The SV Yuri Gagarin was one of the original three colony ships sent by the United Nations to found Persephone, along with the SV Marco Polo? and the SV Christopher Columbus?. It was named after Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human being in space. The commander of the Yuri Gagarin during its mission was the Russian commander Anna Reverova?. During construction Captain Pavel Stoychanev held command and he was initially expected to command the flight, but his promotion to the United Nations Security Force removed him from command.
The Yuri Gagarin was, as the name implies, primarily Russian-built, and was intended to be Russia's major contribution to the colony. Intended to be used only once before being crashed into the planet to establish the colony, the designers of the Yuri Gagarin could take certain liberties: the Yuri Gagarin is still the largest spacegoing vessel ever constructed by humanity, and carried a total of 2,500 officers, crew, and immigrants to the colony over a period of thirteen days.
In spite of its considerable size, the Yuri Gagarin is also widely-regarded as the most reliable of the colony vessels currently on Persephone. During its single space journey, there was a crisis when one of the main drives suffered a malfunction and began venting dangerous gas into the atmosphere. However, this was brought under control and since its crashlanding the Yuri Gagarin has largely performed as expected. Indeed, the old fusion core not only powers the ship itself but the adjacent Old Sector of the colony.