In 1961, who famously was almost pitchforked until removing his helmet and proving he wasn't a sheep dipper? Hint: When he removed his helmet, he spoke Russian.

MiCharlie124

Yuri Gargarin http://www.spacetoday.org/Questions/FirstMannedMission.html May 17 08, 10:39 AM

Baloo55th

Sounds likely, but not directly supported by the reference.... I can't find one that does. Incidentally, why would a sheep dipper be pitchforked? And why would removing a helmet prove you weren't one anyway? The Western (cowboy type West) meaning of a cowboy friendly with sheep herders seems irrelevant. Gagarin's (translated) words: "When they saw me in my space suit and the parachute dragging alongside as I walked, they started to back away in fear. I told them, don't be afraid, I am a Soviet like you, who has descended from space and I must find a telephone to call Moscow!" The people were a woman and her small granddaughter (Anna Tahktorovna and her six-year-old grandaughter, Rita) http://www.spacetoday.org/Questions/FirstMannedMission.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vostok_1 May 17 08, 10:59 AM

zbeckabee

SanGermain answers: Yuri Gagarin. When he landed near a small Russian village after his inaugural spaceflight in 1961, the townsfolk thought he was a downed U-2 pilot and were ready to arrest him. By removing his helmet and speaking Russian to them, they calmed down. UPI 4/12/91 "Sheep dipper" refers to the fact that U-2 pilots had to resign their military commissions before joining the CIA as civilians, a process they referred to as "sheep dipping." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_U-2 May 19 08, 12:45 PM

Baloo55th

I'll go along with the sheep dipping bit, but I've found no reference to pitchforks. What I've found tallies with what MiCharlie and I have referred to - the people he met were scared and ran, so he took off his helmet and spoke to them, wanting to find a phone to ring Moscow. (Ah, the good old days - a cosmonaut lands in a field and has to find a phone to ring Control to say he's back safely.) May 19 08, 1:57 PM

queproblema

But he WAS a sheep dipper, then. Waiting to hear from SG about the pitchfork. May 19 08, 2:19 PM

Baloo55th

No, he was still in the forces. It was the CIA pilots in the U2 spy planes that were sheepdippers. May 19 08, 2:26 PM

SanGermain

My original sources suggested the villagers were trying to arrest him until he spoke Russian. Isn't a pitchfork the standard weapon of villagers? May 20 08, 1:10 PM

Baloo55th

Frequently. Trouble is, we can't find your original source... Maybe it's not online - I've had that problem before now. Not everything is online. Some stuff's still on paper. May 20 08, 5:15 PM

zbeckabee

Here...from the Uncyclopedia: "Greeting the intrepid explorer (Yuri Gagarin), the peasants mistook him for a beet monster from beyond the moon and promptly attempted to turn him into borscht using pitchforks." ;) http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin May 20 08, 5:34 PM