USSR pilot-cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in a spacesuit before launch on the Vostok spacecraft. April 12, 1961. The author of the photo has not been identified. Photo: RGANTD. Arch. No. 1-998tsv
Cosmonautics Day is celebrated on the anniversary of the first human flight into space – April 12. The holiday was established only in April 1962 – a year after the successful landing of Yuri Gagarin. Cosmonautics Day received international status in 1968 at a conference of the International Aeronautical Federation.
On April 12, 1961, at 9:07 Moscow time, the Vostok launch vehicle launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome (Kazakhstan). On board was 27-year-old native of the Smolensk region Yuri Gagarin.
The world’s first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in the cabin of the Vostok-I spacecraft before launch on April 12, 1961. Archive: Cosmonaut Training Center/Roscosmos
The flight took place as usual, and Yuri Gagarin managed to conquer space – on Vostok he completed one orbit in low-Earth orbit. Gagarin’s flight duration was 1 hour 48 minutes. During this time, Yuri Alekseevich monitored the planet and maintained radio contact with the mission control center (MCC). At the 108th minute after launch, the ship began to descend. At an altitude of 7 kilometers, Gagarin ejected from the capsule.
It was initially planned that the descent module would land approximately 110 km from Stalingrad, but due to a failure in the braking system, it fell in the Saratov region, south of the city of Engels, near the village of Smelovka. At the site of Gagarin’s landing, the Gagarin Field with a memorial complex appeared.
Interesting fact: Gagarin went into space with the rank of senior lieutenant and landed as a major. The first cosmonaut was awarded an extraordinary rank, bypassing the captain’s rank, on the day of the flight – April 12, 1961. Two days later – on April 14 – by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Yuri Gagarin became a Hero of the Soviet Union.
Traditionally, on Cosmonautics Day in Russia, classes are held in schools about the life of Yuri Gagarin, and events and special exhibitions are prepared in cosmonautics museums.
- In Moscow you can visit the Cosmonautics and Aviation Center at VDNKh. There are 120 samples of aircraft and space technology on display, and next to the entrance to the pavilion there is a life-size model of the Vostok launch vehicle.
- In the Moscow region (25 km from the capital) there is Star City – the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. For a long time, astronauts trained at the secret base, but now it is open to everyone.
- In St. Petersburg, on Cosmonautics Day, you can go to the Glushko Museum of Cosmonautics and Rocket Technology. Models of the first satellite, the Vostok spacecraft, are presented there. The museum halls display models of the first artificial satellite, the Vostok spacecraft and the descent module of the Soyuz-16 spacecraft.
Deputy Head of the Cosmonaut Training Center Yuri Gagarin at his desk in his office at the Cosmonaut Training Center. 1968, Star City. Photo: RGANTD. Arch. No. 0-767 color
Yuri Gagarin died on March 27, 1968 during a training flight on a MiG-15UTI aircraft. He was only 34 years old. Gagarin was buried in Moscow near the Kremlin wall on Red Square.
For the 90th anniversary of the birth of the first cosmonaut, we prepared the material “Yuri Gagarin. Unknown life.”
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