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Rev. Bras. Polít. Int., 63(1): e004, 2020 Caterina This article is structured in four items. First, it presents the space program’s place in Soviet foreign policy. Thereafter, Gagarin’s visit and its impact on the image of the USSR in Brazil are assessed. Finally, the conclusions are presented.

The space program as an element of Soviet foreign policy

On April 11, 1961, Nikita Khrushchev received a telephone call at his summer residence in Pitsunda, on the Black Sea coast. The director of the Military-Industrial Commission, Dmitri Ustinov, had called to report to the prime minister about the launch of the first spaceship with a human on board the next day. According to Gerovitch (2011), Khrushchev completely refuted Ustinov’s suggestion to send Gagarin, after his spaceflight, to Pitsunda. Instead, the first secretary said he would fly back to Moscow, greet the cosmonaut at Vnukovo Airport with “as much magnificence as possible: radio, television and brief speeches” (in the prime minister’s words), and then take him to a large reception at the Kremlin.

Arriving at the Red Square, Gagarin spoke to a huge audience waiting for him next to the prime minister. At the Kremlin, a generous reception for 1,500 people, including the entire foreign press and diplomatic corps, would be held to honour him (Gerovitch 2011). For his achievement, the cosmonaut was decorated with the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, a promotion to major (without passing that of captain), the title of First Class Military Pilot (without passing to Second Class), a car, and immediate international fame (Gerovitch 2015).

However, if for the cosmonaut there was publicity, the technical-scientific staff of the space program was surrounded by secrecy. According to Gerovitch (2015), approximately 700 engineers, scientists, and technicians who contributed to the Vostok-1 flight received titles and bonuses anonymously. In a closed ceremony – not revealed by the Soviet press – the chief engineer, Sergei Korolev, received the Order of Lenin and the title of Hero of Socialist Labour (Gerovitch 2015).

According to another key figure of the Soviet space program, engineer Boris Chertok (2009), there was a “historic paradox of cosmonautics,” as advances in missile technology stimulated confrontation between the two superpowers, while the “successes” of manned space missions – based on these same advances – fostered “rapprochement, cooperation, and a desire to exchange ideas and experience.” Regarding the former, it is important to emphasize that this constant technical improvement had the potential to carry an intercontinental missile with a nuclear warhead to any part of the world (Chertok 2009).

From the perspective of cultural propaganda though, Gagarin would be the first in a gallery of cosmonaut heroes who would take part in even more ambitious missions afterwards. In August 1961, German Titov orbited for approximately 24 hours around the Earth. The following year, the first cosmonaut duo, Andriyan Nikolayev and Pavel Popovich, was launched and returned safely. In 1963, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. The first spacewalk would Gagarin in Brazil: reassessing the terms of the Cold War domestic political debate in 1961 5