p Like every other Soviet citizen, I am dividing my profound admiration of Titov’s feat into two equal shares: I bow before Herman Titov and before all those who took part in building his spaceship.

p And surely we want to bow even lower before the Party which reared such a brilliant constellation of cosmonauts, scientists, designers and workers, whose creative minds and clever hands are indeed worth more than their weight in gold!

p Isn’t it wonderful that at this very minute the whole country, the Government, and Moscow are honouring our Motherland’s true son, and that tonight our Army will give the finishing touch to these celebrations with the thunderous salvoes from its glorious guns!

August 9, 1961