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RUSSIA celebrated Cosmonauts’ Day today, with events taking place across the country to mark the anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s first flight into space on April 12 1961.
His flight in the Vostok 1 spacecraft lasted 108 minutes and earned him the Hero of the Soviet Union award, that nation’s highest honour.
“Orbiting Earth in the spaceship, I saw how beautiful our planet is. People, let us preserve and increase this beauty, not destroy it!” he famously said.
Gagarin embarked on a peace tour soon after his return to Earth, visiting 20 countries including Britain, where crowds flocked to greet him in Manchester.
He remained committed to the ideals of communism and the 1917 October revolution, which he said allowed him to fulfil his dreams of travelling in space.
Communist Party of the Russian Federation general secretary Gennady Zyuganov praised the Soviet scientists that made Gagarin’s voyage a reality and “opened the way to the stars for mankind.”
Tributes were also paid to Valentina Tereshkova who, two years after Gagarin’s flight, became the first woman in space.
“A bird cannot fly with one wing only. Human space flight cannot develop any further without the active participation of women,” she said following her achievement.
Last month a US space conference being held in Gagarin’s honour was renamed because he was Russian.
The non-profit Space Foundation said “in light of current world events” — the Russian attack on Ukraine — they would be changing “Yuri’s Night” to “A Celebration of Space: Discover What’s Next” at its 37th Space Symposium event, which starts on Sunday.
