The Motherland Hears

It was April the 12th when Gagarin at the age of 27 left the earth.
In 1961 the Soviet spaceship-sputnik was put in orbit around the Earth with him on board. As the cosmonaut mentioned after his trip "...there was a good view of the Earth which had a very distinct and pretty blue halo. It had a smooth transition from pale blue, blue, dark blue, violet and absolutely black. It was a magnificent picture." [Gagarin in his official statement after the flight, April 15, 1961.] During his flight in the Soviet spaceship/satellite Vostok 1, Gagarin whistled the tune "The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows". The first two lines of the song are: "The Motherland hears, the Motherland knows/Where her son flies in the sky".The song which is supposed to be ultra –patriotic was written by Dmitri Shostakovich (opus 86) ten years before..