KOSYGIN AND SOVIET LEADERS; GAGARIN AND VALENTINA TERESHKOVA; AUDIENCE LISTENING; GAGARIN SPEAKING.




Initials JBC/V/JF/MM



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: YURI GAGARIN, THE WORLD'S FIRST COSMONAUT, TOLD A MOSCOW MEETING TO COMMEMORATE THE SIXTH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS FLIGHT YESTERDAY (WEDNESDAY) THAT ALTHOUGH THE USA HAD A NUMBER OF SUCCESSES RECENTLY, THEIR SCIENTISTS WERE FOLLOWING THE PATH PAVED BY THE SOVIET PEOPLE. "AND IT IS WELL KNOWN THAT THINGS ARE ALWAYS MORE DIFFICULT FOR THE PIONEERS.

BEHIND COLONEL GAGARIN AS HE SPOKE IN THE 6,000-SEAT PALACE OF CONGRESSES WERE THE SOVIET POLITICAL LEADERS, INCLUDING THE PRIME MINISTER, MR. ALEXEI KOSYGIN, THE CHIEF OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY, MR. BREZHNEV, AND PRESIDENT NICOLAI PODGORNY. AMONG THE COSMONAUTS PRESENT WERE SPACEWOMAN VALENTINA TERESHKOVA AND THE FIRST MAN TO "WALK" IN SPACE, COLONEL ALEXEI LEONOV.

COLONEL GAGARIN REFERRED TO THE FACT THAT RUSSIA HAD NOT HAD A MAN IN SPACE FOR TWO YEARS, WHILE THE UNITED STATES HAD PUT UP A SERIES OF MANNED CAPSULES WHICH HAD BROUGHT THE AMERICAN SCIENTISTS "PRICELESS KNOWLEDGE" OF SPACESHIP DOCKING TECHNIQUES AND OTHER MANOEUVRES ESSENTIAL IN SPACE EXPLORATION. "NO MATTER HOW IMPRESSIVE THE AMERICAN SPACE FLIGHTS ARE, HE SAID, "THEY FOLLOW THE PATH PAVED BY THE SOVIET PEOPLE."