But the Russians definitely had a jump on everyone and brilliantly created the Mir Space Station which lasted for ten years then of course the International Space Station was built which was in my opinion the greatest collaboration ever between countries. The space programs involved included Canada, Europe, Japan, Russian and the United States. We've been pitching in and working together on the space station for over eleven years now.
I digress…back to Yuri. When Yuri was launched into space he didn’t have much room in his spacecraft to move around. He knew he’d have to deal with this tight space for around a month. Of course when he first got up there he was amazed at what he saw outside of his window; think about it he was the first man to see the planet earth!
But then Yuri started hearing something that sounded a little bit like a tapping noise somewhere inside of the control panel. Every few seconds and in perfect timing, the sound would occur. It was really bothering him so he grabbed a few tools and looked inside the panel trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. He couldn’t find it and it was driving him crazy so he started checking out the entire capsule. The whole time something was consistently tapping and he couldn't locate it.
Yuri thought about the situation and at that time there were no communications back to Russia’s space center so he knew he couldn't get any advice on what to do. He was afraid that he would go insane and end up destroying the spacecraft and himself.
He sat down and closed his eyes for a moment and listened to the tap then all of a sudden a song popped into his head that the tapping was in perfect rhythm to. Yuri said this saved him because the rest of the 28 days were filled with music in his head and songs from his lips. He said he went from almost going insane to having a great trip.
Isn’t this how it is with us? Sometimes we get so focused on our problems that we feel like we’re going crazy (tap, tap, tap) because there aren’t any easy solutions. We get in a funk and think we won’t pull out of it. But don’t we always pull out of it in one way or another? Eventually something clicks and we're reminded that life is worth living and that things aren’t that bad. Let’s be like Yuri and listen for the music!