50 anniversary of the first man in space celebrated at Baikonur
Almaty. April 12. Kazakhstan Today - Today, 12 April 2011, is the 50th anniversary of the first human spaceflight on 12 April 1961 by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, Kazakhstan Today reports.
Veterans of Russia's space programme were gathered on Monday night in the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the space port from which Yuri Gagarin shot into history, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first man in space, The Telegraph reported.
Most of them had came directly from a ceremony at Moscow's space museum, which was attended by the heads of all the world's major space agencies, many of the world's 500 astronauts and cosmonauts, as well as politicians, diplomats and dignitaries.
"Yuri is a hero of the Soviet Union, and of the world," said General Thomas Stafford, the most senior US astronaut to attend Monday's event.
"Without Gagarin going first, I probably wouldn't have gone to the moon."
Gen Stafford commanded the Apollo 10 mission, the last mission before the US moon landing in 1969, flying within eight miles of the moon's surface.
"We are all the sons of Yuri Gagarin," said Jean-Jacques Dordain, the director of the European Space Agency.
The event, which was attended by Gagarin's daughter Elena, was the culmination of a steady build up which began when the Soyuz rocket launched with the last three residents to the International Space Station on April 4.
The rocket had been re-christened 'Gagarin' to celebrate the anniversary, and painted with Gagarin's face, as well as the word "poyekali!", or "let's go!", which every Russian recognises as Gagarin's words as the ignition fired for his historic trip.
There will be parties across the world, including a star-studded event at the Kremlin on Monday night followed by a 50-gun salute in Moscow on Tuesday.
The anniversary will also be celebrated in space itself, as the three Russians, two Americans and one Italian currently orbiting the earth pay homage to the man who paved their way.
In London, a statue of Gagarin will be erected in July to commemorate the Soviet hero's visit three months after the launch. Brian May, the guitarist from the rock group Queen, is even composing a commemorative rock song, which will be performed at a "science and music festival" in Tenerife in June.
Baikonur, deep in the steppes of Kazakhstan, remains by far the world's busiest space port, with twice as many launches as either the US or China. Gagarin's Start, the pad from which Gagarin launched is still in use, and was chosen for the April 4 launch. The site is managed by Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, on a 50-year-lease from Kazakhstan.
Andrea Rose, the director at the British Council, who is behind the plans for a London statue, said Gagarin's enduring popularity reflected the fact that he was "the one untarnished figure from the Soviet era".
Piers Bizony, one of his biographers, said: "Gagarin was more personable than Armstrong. He was an exceptionally good diplomat. He was handsome, charming and generous."
In the years after Gagarin became the first man in space, he longed to go back up again, and had just returned to flying planes, when, on 27 March 1968, he was killed in a jet crash.
Photo: themoon.ucoz.ru.
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