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Golden Jubilee of World’s First Human Flight to Space; Space Race and Russian Technology

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Yuri Gagarin in Sweden

50 years ago, on a sunny morning Soviet Union did what no other nation had done before. Yuri Gagarin, a 27 year old Soviet pilot and cosmonaut became the first man who, against the gravity pull of earth, went to the space. Blasting off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the name of the place has been registered forever in the historical records.

vostok logo
Vostok Mission’s
Insignia

We are now marking the 50th anniversary or Golden Jubilee of this historical event in the history of space exploration. It is the victory of humans. It is a pure example of how far a man can go to learn new things. A general curiosity in human beings of how earth looks from space and how the universe is comparable to earth being finally uncovered. One of the greatest achievement in 20th century, this event marked the victory of Soviet Union over other rival nations in space race. This has surely made Yuri Gagarin as the role model for many youths in the world.

Western nations, specially US got a big shock because they used to consider this communist nation poor, hollow and technically weak. The successful Soviet mission to the space led by Yuri Gagarin was the wake up call for US politicians and scientists.

john F Kennedy moon mission speech
May 25, 1961: President John Kennedy addresses 
Congress on his plan to put a man 
on the Moon within nine years.

At 01:30 AM a call ranged into Jerome Weisner’s residence that woke up John F. Kennedy’s scientific advisor. The call from the Pentagon told him that Soviet’s have won the race to the space at the peak of the cold war.

Just a month after the Soviet flight, President John F. Kennedy declared that he would put a man on the moon at the end of the decade.

While US scientists were working on something big, just after four months, Soviet Union again broke the silence and launched another space mission, Gherman Titov, a Soviet cosmonaut spent 25 hours in the space and completed 17 orbits of the earth.

Buzz Aldrin during Apollo 11’s
first Moon landing mission in 1969

Finally US came up with the response: Alan Shephard became the first astronaut from the western world to travel to space in May 1961, but that was just a sub-orbital flight which lasted only 15 minutes. US could achieve something good only in February 1962,  when another astronaut John Glenn completed three orbits of the earth, but that was also far lesser than Soviet’s achievement.

While Soviet Union started and won the space race, it was US who became the first one to land a man on the moon in July 1969 with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin becoming setting the historical record of leaving human footprints on the surface of the moon.



Why Soviet Union lost the race to the moon?

When the Soviet Union is celebrating Golden Jubilee of first human space flight ever in the world, many questions are being raised that when Russians did a great start, then why did they lag behind in the space race?

While Soviet Union became the first one to launch an artificial satellite, to send a first life form in the space, to send a first man in the space, to send a first woman in the space and to send a first probe to the moon, it certainly lost to US to send a first man on the moon. And since then USSR could never bounce back to challenge US.

Insufficient funding, internal turmoil, maintaining a huge area of land, checking western influence in its region, countering intelligence, maintaining loosing friends, became Soviet Union’s first priority.

The main designer of Soviet spacecrafts and propulsion systems, Koroljev, died.

Brahmos on Sukhoi
Brahmos, world’s first
and only supersonic
cruise missile
under the legend
 Sukhoi 30 MKI

The N1 rocket was enormously tall and heavy moonrocket (even heavier and longer then Saturn V), didn’t use the most advanced rocket propulsion system.


At that time only a true socialist organization could bring out the difference and compared to Soviet Union which was a socialist country. NASA was more socialist as it was totally under government compared to Soviet space organization which relied on different companies and design bureaus.
Even though Soviet Union lost the race to the moon and then the space race, still Russian technology, specially in aerospace, is considered far more superior. That’s the reason why Russians aircrafts and fighters are loved so much by the other air forces. They are not just cheaper, more sophisticated, but also have a good looking design. The only reason why few countries purchase American weapons is because they provide better servicing and spare parts when required.
 

Honours

yuri gagarin postcard stamp
A postcard with an
image of Yuri Gagarin

The Russian President Dmitri Medvedev has ordered a 50 gun salute to mark 50th anniversary or Golden Jubilee of this historical event.
The UN general assembly has also adopted making 12th April an “International Day of Human Space Flight”

Its a great honour for the Russians. There are people who are in full mood to claim this flight as fake, and there are people who are dedicated in proving American Apollo moon mission as fake. As a public notice or as a worldwide accepted proof or evidence, nothing has come out. So let us not get into the politics and let us celebrate the 50th anniversary, Golden Jubilee of the first human space flight, whether you are Russians or not, because it is the victory of human, and a master piece of advance human brains.

Life of Yuri Gagarin After the Mission

yuri gagarin monument
Monument of Yuri Gagarin on
Cosmonauts Alley in Moscow

A Soviet Air force Pilot, born to the farmer parents and worked as a carpenter before joining Soviet Air Force. He began serving as a deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. He later returned to Star City, the cosmonaut facility. Later Soviet Officials avoided Yuri Gagarin in any missions in fear of loosing a hero in accidents.

But this couldn’t prevent this smart man, Yuri Gagarin, from going to the final destination. On 27 March 1968, on a routine training flight in a MiG-15UTI he died with this flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin. The MiG tool off from the Chkalovsky Air Base, the crash happened near the town of Kirzhach. The bodies of Yuri Gagarin and the flight instructor Seryogin were cremated and the ashes were buried in the walls of the Kremlin on Red Square in honour.

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Sanskar Shrivastava is the founder of international students' journal, The World Reporter. Passionate about dynamic occurrence in geopolitics, Sanskar has been studying and analyzing geopolitcal events from early life. At present, Sanskar is a student at the Russian Centre of Science and Culture and will be moving to Duke University.

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Europe

National Police arrests 60 people for money laundering in Majorca

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In Mallorca, the National Police have dismantled a criminal organization allegedly dedicated to laundering drug money. According to preliminary investigations, those involved are alleged to have laundered more than one million euros over the last year.

At the moment, the authorities have arrested a total of 60 people for the alleged crimes of money laundering and false documentation. Although investigations are still ongoing, leading Spanish criminal lawyers have pointed to the possibility of an increase in the amount of money laundered.

In addition to this, specialists in Criminal Law and Financial Crimes such as Luis Chabaneix have pointed out that during the next few days the number of arrests could increase, both in Madrid and in Mallorca. It should be noted that of the 60 arrested, 55 were arrested on the island and the other five in the city of Madrid on Sunday, May 16.

Money laundering of drug money from Mallorca to the Caribbean

According to the founder of Chabaneix Lawyers, Luis Chabaneix, the 60 people who have been arrested by the National Police are being investigated for the laundering of millions of dollars. It is presumed that more than one million Euros from drug trafficking activities have been sent to Latin American countries such as the Dominican Republic and Cuba, and even shipments to the United States have been registered.

In these countries, the money diverted by the criminal association has been used for the purchase of real estate and vehicles. For this reason, the National Police is in permanent collaboration with the North American, Cuban and Dominican authorities in order to dismantle the activities of this group in the different countries.

Likewise, among the main information provided by the authorities, it should be noted that more than 400,000 Euros in cash were seized from the hands of those arrested in Mallorca. Similarly, the police searches carried out on the island led to the seizure of multiple luxury items and accessories, a total of three kilos of cocaine and approximately 60 kilograms of cutting substances.

Two Majorcan companies under investigation

The team of criminal lawyers with an office in Madrid has commented that there are multiple methods that can be used to launder drug money. In the particular case of the criminal organization headed by a nationalized citizen of Cuban origin, one of the methods used to divert the money was international bank transfers.

For this purpose, the use of linked bank accounts of certain front men was a fundamental element. In addition, the case includes investigations of split money transfers through call shops.

On the other hand, through an official statement, the National Police informed that two Majorcan companies have been linked to the ongoing investigation. The reason for this is the issuing of fraudulent invoices for a value close to 200,000 euros.

Through these methods, the criminal organization has managed to launder capital inside and outside the country, legalizing large sums of money allegedly originating from drug trafficking. Undoubtedly, the arrest of the 60 people involved, including the leader of the organization, is a serious blow to the laundering of drug money in Spain.

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Economy

Seasif’s Franco Favilla discusses the post-Covid economy and the price of gold

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Although the Covid-19 pandemic isn’t over yet, there has been much discussion on the idea of a “post-Covid” economy, especially with the beginning of vaccination efforts in some countries. With markets throughout the world suffering the economic effects of the virus, experts have been looking towards the future –– and one of the topics that often comes up is the price of gold.

In August, the price of gold exceeded US$ 2,000 an ounce for the first time, driven by multiple factors. However, in November, advancements in Covid-19 vaccines led to a decrease in this trend, a result of the turbulent period we are going through.

“Regardless of the market volatility and the price changes that could occur over a given period of time, the fundamental fact is that the price of gold over the course of 2020 has reached an all-time high, and this, in my opinion, is very good news for the world economy,” explains Franco Favilla, founder and CEO of Seasif, a multinational company active in the extraction and trading of gold and oil.

According to Mr. Favilla, the main problem of the pre-Covid economy was the completely arbitrary nature of international finance. At one time, a ton of gold corresponded to a ton of currency, but since the 1980s, and at an impressive rate since 2000, the gap has widened enormously, so much so that today the relationship between the world’s currencies and gold is enormously unbalanced.

Total gold reserves around the world cover only 30% of currencies. This means there is nothing to cover and guarantee the value of money. In short, money has turned into a pure convention, a pure agreement between parties acting outside the market. Gold, on the contrary, guarantees democracy, because it protects savers and the market, offering an objective value for parameterizing every transaction. 

“My hope, therefore, is that the crisis caused by Covid-19 will help to change finance, making it less ‘phantom’ and more linked to an objective dimension, based on gold, with obvious advantages for the real economy. Gold protects consumers, the most important component in any economic system: if you don’t have a market made up of consumers with a certain level of wealth, how can you sell? To whom? Consumer protection must come first, and gold is one of the main ways of protecting them,” states the CEO of Seasif.

Sustainability has also been at the forefront in discussions about the post-Covid world, as countries look towards establishing a more resilient global economy, one able to better withstand such events in the future –– and “green gold” may well be a part of that future. Green gold, in a sense, can be considered the “gold of the future” due to its ethical and sustainable extraction process. Seasif produces green gold, with a department entirely dedicated to green, and has allocated economic incentives to its continued production.

Even as 2020 draws to a close, the future may still look uncertain. But for those searching for greater security, gold may be one of the few certainties left.

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Europe

How much money do you need to live comfortably in Spain?

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malaga andalusia spain

There are plenty of reasons why you may be thinking about living in Spain: its population is friendly and kind; its climate, especially in the coastal areas, is enviable; its gastronomy is incredible… but, what about its prices? What is the most affordable way to live in Spain?

Perhaps the most important question if you decided to go: would it be better to buy instead of renting a property in Spain. Or yet living in a Spanish residence?

Spanish cities where to live cheap and well

In the geographical variety that Spain presents, we can find many differences in average salaries and the standard of living that reside there would require. The areas of Galicia, Extremadura, Castilla y León, together with Almería and the south of Alicante usually have a lower price of euros/square meter in their homes. The quality of life is really appreciable, but you should know that there are fewer possibilities for business and transports.

The autonomous community of the Basque Country, Catalonia, and Madrid, which have higher than average incomes (normally more than 24,000 euros per year), also have higher prices. However, Madrid has such a wide range of rents that it sometimes makes them cheaper than other countries. 

In addition, and taking into account the tourist seasons, the areas of Valencia and Andalusia are normally a preference when it comes to living in Spain for a while or even spending your retirement. Although day-to-day life can be more expensive than in other areas of Spain, the mild climate and variety of leisure options are often worth it in the long run. 

Whatever your option is when moving to another country, especially if you don’t know its legal system, can be very tiresome. That’s why our advice is to try to contact local agencies (that speak English) to give you fair and fruitful advice. For example, to move to Andalusia, we usually recommend Tejada solicitors

I have already decided on the place. Now what?

Well, if you have already fully immersed yourself in the streets of a beautiful city that we have talked about, what should be your first step?

Decide what kind of stay you want to be in (since your future economic situation will also depend on this: taxes, permits…). You may have already chosen, for example, property conveyancing in Marbella, but it is recommended that you also think about renting a property, because it can be very profitable while you are in your other place of residence.

To sum up, before moving to a Spanish city, decide if you want to spend a little more money per month in exchange for the exceptional conditions that their precious land can give you; secondly, contact a reliable agency that will help you make the best investment and even more, apply for a Spanish residency if you are decided to stay for a long time.

And remember: a move is always a new beginning.

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