Cosmonautics Day (April 12)

Cosmonautics Day (April 12)
"Go!" - a famous phrase that the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin said.
Yuri Gagarin is an ordinary Soviet citizen, a military pilot by profession, but became a world celebrity because of the space flight on April 12, 1961.

April 12, 1961. The Vostok spacecraft first flew around the Earth in 108 minutes. In the spaceship was Yuri Gagarin.

In honor of the first manned flight around the Earth in April 1962, Cosmonautics Day officially appeared by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
By the way, this was the idea of ​​the second USSR pilot-cosmonaut German Titov.

Date April 12th was not only Cosmonautics Day.
In 1969, the International Aviation Federation chose April 12th as World Aviation and Space Day.
And in 2011 this day also became the International Day of Human Space Flight on the initiative of the UN General Assembly. The resolution, which officially confirms this fact, was signed by more than sixty (60) states.

April 12, 1961.

Interesting facts about the first flight into space

  • The first space flight was prepared very quickly, as the Soviet leaders found out that the Americans were planning to go into space in the end of April.
  • Before the flight, three messages were prepared. The first is “Successful”, the second with a request for help in finding if Gagarin falls in the territory of another country or in the oceans, and the third is “Tragic” if Gagarin dies.
  • Gagarin flew around the Earth once, at 10:55:34 in the 108th minute the ship finished flying. Gagarin landed not in the planned location 110 km from Volgograd, but in the Saratov region, in the vicinity of the village of Smelovka. Here we can say that in Russian there is the word "сме́лый" - courageous, brave.
But Yuri Gagarin was not the first in space. For example, in August 1960, two dogs visited the space - Belka and Strelka, who successfully returned home.

After the flight of Gagarin, almost all Soviet boys dreamed of becoming astronauts, this was one of the most romantic professions.

The first in space.

Pictures from pexels.comyandex.ru.


👉 Russian

COMMENTS VIEW