AMONG the many Americans jolted into action by the Soviet spaceman was Boris Chaliapin, swiftest of TIME'S cover artists. Chaliapin, son of the great Russian basso, has painted some 330 covers for TIME since the summer of 1942, and usually allows himself three days to do a portrait, whether working from his own sketches or from photographs. His most recent feat was painting John XXIII, immediately after his elevation as Pope, in 24 hours for the Nov. 10, 1958 issue of TIME. Last week, when wakened at 8 a.m. on Wednesday and asked to paint Spaceman Gagarin in a hurry, Artist Chaliapin had an unusual handicap. The night before was "my 19th wedding anniversary, but I forgot it. Then my wife told me and we celebrated--my wife Helcia and my daughter Irene--drinking vodka until 4 a.m." It was Wednesday nightfall before enough wirephotos and other material had come in for Chaliapin to work from. Twelve hours later the job was done, a new record. sb

IN switching to the Soviet spaceman from another cover subject--who shall remain nameless, since he may turn up on TIME'S cover in the future --a good many others at TIME had to scurry fast too, in Moscow, Washington, London, Florence, Cape Canaveral and way points.

In Boston, Correspondent Doug Cray was assigned to interview visiting Soviet Scientist Leonid I. Sedov, who had just been interviewed over a Boston TV show and had set off for Brown University in Providence. Correspondent Cray got in touch with Sedov's Russian translator on the program, Harvard's Nicholas DeWitt, arranged for him to come along, and hired a Cadillac ("a sickly marlin blue") to speed off to Providence. Sedov by then was about to emplane for New York. Cray persuaded him to ride instead in the Cadillac "in utter peace and quiet." Sedov produced a couple of nuggets for Science Editor Jonathan Norton Leonard's cover story. In turn, the Soviet scientist and his companions seemed fascinated by the ride, particularly with the automated Thruway toll booths which respond to dropped quarters with flashing "Thank You" signs.

A PHOTOGRAPHER on the Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) News trained his telephoto lens on Greek Shipping Magnate Aristotle Onassis' 325-ft. yacht, the Christina, hoping to get an intimate picture of the distinguished guest aboard. He got a shot of Sir Winston Churchill, wrapped in a blanket, reading a newsmagazine that has had him as its cover subject eight times:

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