He was also a good physiologist and could comfort any person in trouble.

Test after test, he would read another “fit” in his medical record. He knew that the centrifuge – a device that tests the reactions and tolerance of pilots and astronauts to acceleration above those experienced in the Earth’s gravity – destroyed dreams of many pilots and cosmonauts and he tried to do his best when it was time for him to take a centrifuge test.

He was weighted (68 kg) to balance the centrifuge and fastened inside. Gagarin was to push the buttons to turn off the lights which were situated right in front of his eyes. The test was passed successfully.

All further centrifuge tests were completed. The medical committee tested 250 pilots and Gagarin was one of the 20 people who passed all the tests, including the centrifuge.

In March, 1960 the team of cosmonauts-to-be was transported to a city in the Moscow Region that was named Star City by Gagarin.

The cosmonauts were lectured on rocket structure and its systems, space medicine, space communications, etc. Korolev spent more and more time with the cosmonauts trying to determine psychophysiological peculiarities of each of them.

When the cosmonauts had some leisure time, they played volleyball, basketball (Gagarin was the best player despite the fact he was short), other ball games, exercised on the trampoline, swings, etc.

Continuous exercising resulted in improving Gagarin’s performance and helped him prepare for parachute jumping. He had his first parachute jump in May, 1960 outside Engels.

He performed his first parachute jump excellent. He was calm, focused and confident. He quickly mastered his skilles in body control in flight.

The next test Gagarin was to take was a “silence chamber”. Gagarin was to remain inside the silence chamber – isolated from the rest of the world, people, light and sounds – for 10 days doing exercises and fulfilling certain tasks. His heart rate and respiratory rate were regularly measured.

His menu included soup, smoked sausage, melted cheese and bread. Staying in that chamber, Gagarin never gave way to despair, read and sang songs. When the door of the chamber opened 10 days later, he came out as healthy, cheerful and kind-hearted, as he had always been.

Gagarin received As for each of the three weightlessness tests he took. After that, they were let inside the Vostok.

On April 10th, 1961 the state committee chose Gagarin as the one to be sent to space and Titov as Gagarin’s backup man.
Prior to his departure, Gagarin made a speech which was broadcast throughout the Soviet Union and retransmitted worldwide.
“All my life now appears to be one happy moment,” Gagarin said mere minutes before entering his spaceship. “Everything that was lived and done before was achieved for this moment alone.”

The flight went as planned.
His open, triumphant smile, both upon landing and minutes before take-off, instantly became a worldwide symbol of the space age.