The Russian Embassy in Guyana on Wednesday announced a series of activities to mark the 50th anniversary of the first human being blasted by a rocket into space.
The late Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin
April 12, 2011 is a significant date in history that celebrates the life of Yuri Gagarin, the first documented human to arrive in space, in 1961. At a media conference Wednesday to mark the event, Russian Chargé d’affaires Dr Sergey Tarasov disclosed that Gagarin died in a plane crash at the age of 34.
“On April 12, 1961, a peasant farmer’s son with a winsome smile got himself into a capsule eight feet in diameter and was blasted into space on top of a rocket, 20 storeys high. 108 minutes later, after making a single orbit of our world, the young pilot parachuted back to earth,” Dr Tarasov said.
Yuri Gagarin had thus become the first human being to journey into space.
Dr Tarasov said the flight was a defining moment of the 20th century and opened up the prospect of interplanetary travel for mankind. The flight of Vostok, as it was known, resulted in the 27-year-old cosmonaut becoming a figurehead for the Soviet Union, and he was able to tour the world.
Gagarin also received more than a million letters from fans across the world and an astonishing outpouring of global admiration. “To many Russians, Gagarin occupied the same emotional territory as John F Kennedy or Princess Diana,” Dr Tarasov disclosed.
In fact, Gagarin’s fame spread far and wide, and even conservative English elites fell in love with the cosmonaut, who was noted for his winsome smile and frank persona. The anniversary of the first human spaceflight is celebrated around the world as “Cosmonautics Day”, with parties appropriately dubbed “Yuri’s Night.”
According to Dr Tarasov, the first Yuri’s Night “space parties” were held on April 12, 2001, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Gagarin’s feat.
Russia and other former Soviet republics plan special tributes and events to commemorate the exploit. These include lectures, concerts and special exhibits at museums. “If the 45th anniversary in 2006 is any indication, cosmonauts in space and on earth can expect a chat with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin or President Dmitry Medvedev,” Dr Tarasov said.
The Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) started a Yuri Gagarin 50th anniversary webpage to gather memorabilia for showcasing on its website.
Announcements about other honours for Gagarin in Moscow and elsewhere in the former Soviet Union can be expected as the anniversary approaches, Dr Tarasov detailed.
The Russians plan to commemorate this year’s event with the unveiling of another statue in Armenia, while many will congregate at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan from where the R-7 missile lifted Gagarin’s Vostok-1 capsule into space in 1961. On the eve of the anniversary, Russia is already preparing to send a fresh crew to the International Space Station.
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