Moscow: Russia today celebrates the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s voyage into the universe, an achievement of the former Soviet space program that honors the entire country every year.
On April 12, 1961, at 09:07 local time, Gagarin departed from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, aboard the Vostok-1 spacecraft, on a 108-minute flight – one orbit around Earth – making him the first human to go into space.
To celebrate this history, schools organize the so-called Festival of Astronauts, while Russians of all ages lay flowers in front of the disparate monuments found in the country in honor of the protagonist of scientific achievement and conquest.
Press and television channels also designated spaces for astronauts, who became a popular hero for many Russians due to his simplicity and modest origins, according to historians.
A carpenter’s son and a peasant woman who suffered from the Nazi occupation, Gagarin trained as a foundry and metal worker and later trained as a military pilot, when he was chosen from among thousands of candidates to pursue astronaut training.
After six decades of the saga of the universe and since his death in a plane crash on March 27, 1968 in Russia, the picture or his name appears in the streets and squares, Souvenirs, Supermarkets, or he was tattooed on the body of quite a few of his followers.
For the occasion, the secretive Ministry of Defense lifted personal files, including documents and photos of the first Soviet astronauts, which it published on its page (http://60cosmonauts.mil.ru/).
The Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft, which flew to the International Space Station last Friday with three astronauts aboard in honor of the anniversary, was baptized in his name, and his image and Gagarin’s year 1961- are engraved on its chassis. 2021.
The United Nations has designated April 12 as the International Day of Manned Space Flight, to commemorate the 27-year-old’s achievement, a “ historic event that paved the way for space exploration for the benefit of all humanity. ” UN Resolution.
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