after starting an apprenticeship in a metalworks as a foundryman, gagarin was selected for further training at a technical high school in saratov. while there, he joined the flight club, and learned to fly a light aircraft. in 1955, after finishing his technical schooling, he entered military flight training at the orenburg pilot's school. while there he met valentina goryacheva. yuri married her in 1957, after gaining his pilot's wings in a mig-15. post-graduation, he was told to go to luostari airbase in murmansk oblast, close to the norwegian border, where bad weather made flying risky. as a full-grown man, gagarin was tall, which was an advantage in the small vostok cockpit. he became a lieutenant of the soviet air force on november 5, 1957 and on november 6, 1959 he got the rank of senior lieutenant.