Question by Milo: Why do so many americans know who Neil Armstrong is but not Yuri Gagarin?
Is this part of american schooling?
It seems that every american knows that Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon but they don’t know that Yuri Gagarin was the first man in space.
Answers and Views:
Answer by Reality has a Liberal Bias
Most Americans don’t understand that we have 3 co-equal branches of government.
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POPO says
Sure- I guess elements of basic education are nation-centric, teaching how America was founded for example, in history, as opposed to teaching how Uganda was founded- I'm sure it's like that in all countries
a bit of nationalism, especially with the space race hat was a big national-pride issue
but that aside, I know who Yuri Gagarin is and what he did.
In ways his accomplishments more astounding than those of Apollos', being the first in space, but the big goal was the moon –
but it is my understanding that Gagarin didn't even have a pressurized cabin in his ship? THAT is just amazing.
ash says
Bad education.
Yaktivistdotcom says
Nations tend to celebrate their own heros more than those of other countries (especially countries which were adversaries at the time). BTW, as much as I hate to admit my age, I remember many news reports about Gagarin when he went into space, so I think a lot of Americans do know about him and admire the man if not the government which sent him into orbit.
Proust says
Cold war propaganda.
RayHere says
Many of us know Yuri We also know that the Russian beat us At !ST in space in many ways But we also know we landed on the the moon and they watched
Mia says
Same reason my kids here in the u.k don't know much about Britain's colonial past or the horrors of the slave trade.History is being taught differently. Bet not many americans know about Valentina Tereshkova either.(first woman in space).
Tenchiro says
There are Americans who want Neil Armstrong removed from the text books, it seems some people have very little tolerance for even our own to suggest that we teach about other countries cosmonauts.
Chen陳 says
Most americans don't even know the meaning of what socialism is what makes you think they know about space LoL
R@$T@POET says
In American schools it is glorified that an American was the first man on the moon, more classroom time is dedicated to studying American accomplishments in space. Yuri is mentioned in History textbooks, but does not have the amount of information necessary to study his accomplishments. Furthermore, it's more of a pride issue for the children of a country to learn about their countries heros rather than anothers. I'm sure kids growing up in Russia don't know who Neil Armstrong is, but I could be wrong, for I didn't grow up in Russia, so I don't know.
Vlad says
I grew up in Russia and I never heard of Niel Armstrong until I moved to Canada.
ohbrother says
How many remember who "Ham" was.
brown9500.v10 says
[Albert II, a Rhesus Monkey, became the first monkey in space on June 14, 1949. Albert II died on impact after a parachute failure.]
Is this homo-centrism?
Well Duh! says
It's not that important. How many Russians know Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon??
It's been good says
jsoep
Common Sense in Exil says
Armstrong…American hero
Gagarin…Evil communist swine
A few minutes a few miles up is not nearly as impressive as landing on the moon, although John Glenn is a "hero" for the same reason as Gagarin.
Jordan O says
because the media never really talks about yuri anymore. plus, isn't he russian? Americans probably don't care as much because Yuri is not from their country. because that's how we americans are.
scaerdrys says
Why do you assume we don't? We know who Yuri is. But he never landed on the moon, he went up a few miles and came down in better shape than Laika. It's just that Americans don't really celebrate the exploits of Soviet Union members when we won the space war.
Peace
firewomen says
Most Americans cannot pick out their state on a US map.*
jammin7000 says
Because Neil Armstrong was on tv as he landed on the moon in 1968? and it was a mind blowing event. Yuri Gagarin went into space in 1961 when I was only 4 years old.
asylum31 says
I know who he is, but that part of history class was normally skimped through.
greenwood says
when he eats a bucket of bugs in 30 seconds on survivor then he'll get some recognition
Adam says
It might be because Neil Armstrong is an American, and thus more admired by Americans, though if I had to venture a guess, I'd say Armstrong has a stronger presence in popular culture simply because his day in the limelight was a major television event seen by pretty much every person alive, while Gagarin's wasn't.
z13 says
Because Neil Armstrong is American and Yuri Gagarin is Russian and was a part of the Soviet Space Program. It's a bit obvious that the public at large won't care if it weren't one of their own.
Steele grave says
Really, Milo in the grand scheme of things does it actually matter which government employee strapped his azz to which rocket first?
Dan Levin says
Many Americans don't know who the vice president is. What makes you think they will know about a Russian astronaut.
Ixtalan says
Because Cosmonauts don't have souls and therefore don't count.