..."On this final flight path back towards his landing site, the scenes we shot for First Orbit are slightly to the east of the original Vostok 1 trajectory" admits Chris "but beacuase we are so high up the vista was pretty similar to that of Gagarin's vantage point." Another inconsistency Chris is quick to point out is that Gagarin's original elliptical trajectory took him both higher and lower than the present orbit of the International Space Station, and so the film makers had to vary the speed of the footage in order to ensure the film hit the right geographical spots at the time Gagarin would have passed them. "Technically the view we have captured is not at exactly the same altitude above the Earth as Vostok 1 flew", concludes Chris, "but it's close enough to give us a real feel for the view of Earth Gagarin would have had through his much smaller porthole in the centre of his 'Vzor' periscope device".

One last difference, which the film makers have added, is the Moon. "When Gagarin flew into the night side of the Earth on the 12th April 1961 it was a crescent Moon" says Chris. "According to his autobiography Road to the Stars, he tried to look for the Moon out of curiosity, to see what it looked like from space. But unfortunately it was not in his field of view. 'Never mind' he writes, 'I'll see it next time.'" Sadly there was never a next time for Yuri. He was not allowed to fly into space again and died in a plane crash in 1968. "We thought it was a nice gesture to put in the Moon he never got to see", explains Chris.

The finished film is being given away through this web site (www.firstorbit.org) and streamed to the world in a global YouTube premiere on the 12th April. “We hope it will be used as a central part of people's celebrations around the world this year ” says Chris. The Yuri's Night network of parties around the world will be showing it, but if there's not one happening in your area then why not download or stream the film and invite a few friends over and hold your own celebration. It's a unique opportunity to remember Yuri and the great adventure of human space flight which he kicked off 50 years ago.

[back to 'How we made the film - page 2]

More links to interviews about the making of First Orbit

Our Paper on First Orbit for the 2011 International Astronautical Congress.

Russia Today - http://rt.com/news/prime-time/film-gagarin-space-trip/

BBC News Online - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12808771

The Guardian - First Orbit film to reveal the view from Vostok 1

Novosti - (in Russian) - http://www.ntv.ru/novosti/226231/

Nowness - http://www.nowness.com/day/2011/4/11

National Geographic - NGM Block Central.

BBC World Service - 'Click' with Gareth Mitchell - 12-04-2011

Newstalk's Future Proof Podcast 16th April 2011 - iTunes