Tributes to Yuri Gagarin….

 

The world is paying tributes to Yuri Gagarin, who 50 years ago became the first man in space.

Card with Yuri Gagrin’s Autograph

Yuri's Night is an international celebration held on April 12 every year to commemorate space exploration milestones. The event is named for the first human to launch into space, Yuri Gagarin, who flew the Vostok 1 spaceship on April 12, 1961

50th anniversary tributes

A series of tributes around the world coincided with 12 April 2011, the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's journey into outer space.

Monument of Yuri Gagarin on Cosmonauts Alley in Moscow

Russian Rouble commemorating Gagarin in 2001

 

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin  9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human being to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961.

Gagarin became an international celebrity, and was awarded many medals and honours, including Hero of the Soviet Union, the nation's highest honour. Vostok 1 marked his only spaceflight, but he served as backup crew to the Soyuz 1 mission (which ended in a fatal crash). Gagarin later became deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre outside Moscow, which was later named after him.

On 27 March 1968, while on a routine training flight from Chkalovsky Air Base, he and flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin died in a MiG-15UTI crash near the town of Kirzhach. Gagarin was just 34 Years old. The bodies of Gagarin and Seryogin were cremated and the ashes were buried in the walls of the Kremlin on Red Square.

Aside from his short stature at 5 ft 2 inches (1m 57cm), one of Gagarin's most notable traits was his smile.Many commented on how Gagarin's smile gained the attention of many in the crowd on the frequent tours Gagarin did in the months after the Vostok 1 mission success.

50 Years of the First Manned Flight into Space - Stamp Set from Moldova

To commemorate the 50 Year of the first manned flight into space the Moldavian Post is issuing a set of four stamps depicting the most famous astronauts ever - Yuri Gagarin, Alan Shepard, Virgil Grissom and German Titov.

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (9 March 1934 - 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961. Gagarin became an international celebrity, and was awarded many medals and honors, including Hero of the Soviet Union.

Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. (November 18, 1923 - July 21, 1998) was an American naval aviator and astronaut who became the second person, and the first American, in space. Ten years later, he commanded the Apollo 14 mission, and was the fifth person to walk on the Moon.

Virgil Ivan Grissom (April 3, 1926 - January 27, 1967), better known as Gus Grissom, was one of the original NASA Project Mercury astronauts and a United States Air Force pilot. He was the second American to fly in space and the first person to fly in space twice.