Kosmonavt Yuriy Gagarin (Russian: «Космона́вт Ю́рий Гага́рин») was a Soviet space control-monitoring ship or Vigilship (Veladora) that was devoted to detecting and receiving satellite communications. Named after cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the ship was completed in December 1971 to support the Soviet space program. The ship also conducted upper atmosphere and outer space research.^[1]: 309

Kosmonavt Yuriy Gagarin in 1987
Class overview
Name	Sofiya (Modified) (Soviet Project 1909)
Builders	Baltic Shipyard, Leningrad
Operators	Academy of Sciences
Built	1971
In service	1971–1991
Completed	1
Retired	1
History
Soviet Union
Name	1971–1996: Kosmonavt Yuriy Gagarin 1996: Agar
Operator	1971–1992: Academy of Sciences of the USSR
Port of registry	1971–1992: Odesa,  Soviet Union 1992–1996: Odesa,  Ukraine 1996: Kingstown,  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Builder	Baltic Shipyard, Leningrad
Yard number	601
Acquired	September 1971
Identification	Call sign: UKFI IMO number: 7116286
Fate	Scrapped in Alang after 1996
General characteristics of Kosmonavt Yuriy Gagarin
Type	SESS / Vigilship (Veladora)
Tonnage	31,300 DWT
Displacement	53,500 tons standard
Length	760 ft (230 m)
Beam	102 ft (31 m)
Draft	33 ft (10 m)
Propulsion	2 steam turbines (Kirov) with electric drive; 19,000 shp (14,000 kW), 1 shaft
Speed	17.7 knots (33 km/h)
Range	24,000 nmi (44,448 km) at 17.7 knots (33 km/h)
Complement	approx. 160 + 180 scientist-technicians
Sensors and processing systems	1 Don-Kay and 1 Okean (Navigation); Tracking and communications equipment includes Quad Ring, Ship Bowl, and Ship Globe. Two pairs of Vee Tube/Cone HF antennas.
Aircraft carried	none
Aviation facilities	none

It had very distinguishable looks due to two extremely large and two smaller parabolic "dish" antennas placed on top of the hull.

In 1986, Kosmonavt Yuriy Gagarin was the world's largest communications ship and was the flagship of a fleet of communications ships.^[1] These ships greatly extended the tracking range when the orbits of cosmonauts and unmanned missions were not over the USSR.^[2]

In 1975, the ship was a part of the Soviet-American Apollo–Soyuz joint test program.^[3]

The communications ships belonged to the Soviet Academy of Sciences. The maritime part fell under the responsibility of the Baltic- and Black sea shipping. The ships had home ports in Ukraine (Kosmonavt Yuriy Gagarin and the other surveillance ship Akademik Sergei Korolev), so after the fall of the Soviet Union they were transferred to Ukraine – ending their role in spaceflight.

The ship was sold for scrap shortly after the break-up of the Soviet Union along with Akademik Sergei Korolev.