This NYTimes article about the Italian actress Anna Magnani states:
Perhaps the best way to describe her effect on audiences is to quote from a documentary on the Italian actress by the Belgian film maker Chris Vermorcken. In the film, the narrator tells of the first flight into space by the Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin:
''From the cosmos, he sent this message: 'I salute brotherhood, the world of art and Anna Magnani.' ''
Did Yuri Gagarin really mention the Italian actress Anna Magnani in one of his speech?
The reason why I'm asking this question is by doing some research I could only find little mention of this story in English. Most references after a Google search come from Italian websites / newspapers. I checked what I think is the full transcript of Yuri's communication while in space but I couldn't find any reference to this sentence.
Now on why I was checking this information is I was a bit surprised that Yuri was mentioning a Western actress in his speech given the lack of freedom of speech in Soviet Union.
I was a bit surprised that Yuri was mentioning a Western actress in his speech given the lack of freedom of speech in Soviet Union
Your surprise is hardly understandable. She was well-known in the SU, and, in principle, he could have said that. But the point is this story is only told as a kind of an old anecdote (and, most certainly, NYTimes wasn't the primary source of it), and there seems absolutely no evidence to prove it. So I wouldn't expect to get any worthy answer.