Heyerdahl and Gagarin

[Simon Darkshade]

I want here to stimulate a bit of discussion on these two giants of the last century, Thor Heyerdahl and Comrade Colonel Yuri Gagarin. They are seemingly forgotten, but deserve a proper discussion in tribute.
Maybe once we finish these two, we can discuss other great humans who do not get a mention these days

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Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you.
- N.S.Khrushchev

[This message has been edited by Simon Darkshade (edited June 06, 2001).]

 

[dreadhead7]

I have a book by Thor Heyerdahl called "Aku-Aku". It is a fascinating book about the monoliths, or stone heads of Easter Island. Other than that book, and some articles that I read, I don't know much about him. I would like to know more.

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"Shake the world beneath your feet up"
--Johnny Clegg

 

[RR_Aquilae]

Just to let you know: There's a song about Yuri Gagarin, in Finnish, though. I can't remember the whole song, but the singer asks Gagarin something like this: "What does Africa look like? Can you see Finland, or are there clouds?" The chorus: "Fly Juri Gagarin, fly fly! Fly Juri Gagarin! Come back here alive!" "Can you see where money is going? The weapons change hands." That's all I remember.

See Yuri Gagarin's life in pictures here:
http://analogue.com/rao/gallery/gagarin/index.html

 

[Simon Darkshade]

A good site about Colonel Gagarin is www.kosmonaut.se/gagarin/
There is a fair few aerospace or histroy sites that discuss him, but he was much more than just the first man in space. He was an outstanding pilot, cosmonaut and dedicated scientist, as well an ambassador for the human race. Not detracting from Armstrons feat, but this man laid the path, and is now rewarded with being ignored because he was not American.

Thor Heyerdahl is just an incredible man.
A commando soldier in the Second World War, who then does the ultimate scientific feat of testing his own hypothesis.
It doesn't sound like much, at least until we discover said hypothesis involves sailing from Peru to Polynesia in a balsa wood raft.
Kon Tiki is one of the all time great books for all ages, and Thor is a great adventurer who is still alive today and deserves to be hailed.

But, it is the fate of great explorers to be scorned and forgotten - Columbus(scorned), Walter Raleigh(scorned with an axe), and Captain Redbeard Rum (eaten)


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Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you.
- N.S.Khrushchev

 

[KnightOfNi]

I recently read about Thor Heyerdal. He was on an archeological mission in Russia somewhere looking for proof of a lost scandinavian civilization that would have settled there thousands of years ago. He didn't find anything though

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You don't know you're falling until you crash