Poyekhali!

I have always been fascinated by old technology. It seems bizarre to us living in the digital age, that some of the biggest technological feats of mankind were achieved way before we had access to all the supercomputer processing power we now have. The first manned space flight of Soviet astronaut, Yuri Gagarin happened on this day - 12th of April - some 58 years ago. Thus Gagarin became the first human being in space and the first person to see the Earth from space.

My song ‘Poyekhali!’ celebrates this glorious moment and the lyrics are based on Gagarin’s communication with ground control during the flight, describing what he’s seeing and feeling in a blissful moment of insight. “Poyekhali!” is the famous word exclaimed by Gagarin just before take off and literary translates as “let’s go!”

The video created by film maker and space expert Christopher Riley, is based on footage from his beautiful experimental documentary ‘First Orbit’ which was filmed from the International Space Station (mostly by astronaut Paolo Nespoli) and recreates Gagarin’s orbit from his viewpoint. Enjoy the video below and have a happy Yuri’s day!