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Yury Gagarin, citizen of the world

Yury Gagarin, citizen of the world
© RIA Novosti. Valery Shustov- Story
Gagarin monument unveiled in London
16:14 14/07/2011 MOSCOW, July 14 (RIA Novosti)
A monument to the world's first man in space, Russian cosmonaut Yury Gagarin, was unveiled on Thursday in London, the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos said.
Humans in space: results of the past 50 years
11:00 14/04/2011
Many records were set during the 50-year history of manned space travel.
Cosmonaut centrifuge training
17:55 13/04/2011
Centrifuges are used to simulate the effects of gravity in order to test pilots' and cosmonauts’ performance and reaction time under high-g conditions.
Transmissions from a Lone Star: R.I.P. Yury Gagarin, long live the Russian space program!
16:58 13/04/2011 Weekly column by Daniel Kalder
This week marked the 50th anniversary of the first manned space flight. Indeed, I am writing this on Tuesday April 12th, known as Cosmonaut’s Day in Russia in honor of the hour or so Yury Gagarin spent spinning around the earth in a tin can.
Sotheby's sells pre-Gagarin spacecraft for $2.9 million
03:12 13/04/2011
The Vostok 3KA-2 space capsule that carried a mannequin and a dog into space as a rehearsal for Yury Gagarin's manned space mission has been sold at a Sotheby's auction for $2,882,500.
Russia ends Gagarin events with fireworks extravaganza in Moscow
23:55 12/04/2011
Russia's commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Yury Gagarin's 108 minute journey into space finished with coordinated fireworks displays across the capital.
Yury Gagarin's flight remembered
21:22 12/04/2011
On the morning of April 12, 1961, the Vostok spacecraft was launched into orbit carrying the world's first cosmonaut, Yury Gagarin, a citizen of the Soviet Union. YouReporter users and bloggers share recollections of that historic day and what it meant for the Soviet people.
Brussels dresses Manneken Pis in spacesuit to honor Gagarin
19:51 12/04/2011
Manneken Pis, the most popular symbol of Brussels, was dressed in a Russian spacesuit to mark the 50th anniversary of Yury Gagarin's first space flight.
ISS crew tells Medvedev of Cosmonaut Day plans
19:46 12/04/2011
On CosmonautDay Dmitry Medvedev visited the Mission Control Center in Korolev, Moscow Region. The president inspected the Center and spoke with the International Space Station crew.
Gagarin was chosen from six top candidates
18:49 12/04/2011
By March 1960, the Soviet Union had its first cosmonaut squad, which was made up of nine Air Force pilots, six Air Defense Force pilots and five Naval Aviation pilots, 20 people in total. Biomedical training of would-be cosmonauts included 10-15-day stints inside an isolation chamber, the so-called “dead room.” The candidates were also subjected to incredible stresses inside centrifuges, pressure and heat chambers.
Gagarin anniversary conjures up bittersweet emotions for Russians
18:23 12/04/2011 RIA Novosti correspondent Natasha Doff
In a clearing in the woodland near the banks of the vast Volga River, a jubilant crowd is gathered around a tall metal obelisk that marks the exact spot where Yury Gagarin parachuted to earth 50 years ago after his historic first space flight.
Happy Cosmonautics Day!
18:06 12/04/2011
On April 12, 1961, Yury Gagarin made the first space flight on the Vostok spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Space Center.
Since then Russia has marked April 12 as Cosmonautics Day.
Ten-year-old boy makes cartoon about Yury Gagarin
17:00 12/04/2011
Ten-year-old Ivan Kuzmin from Yaroslavl has made an animated cartoon called “Gagarin’s Secret” about the childhood of Yury Gagarin, the first man in space, showing how an ordinary boy became a space traveler.
Russian space pioneers
16:50 12/04/2011
The history of global cosmonautics written by Russian experts abounds in “firsts.”
April 12, 1961: A day in photos
16:00 12/04/2011
Fifty years ago, the Vostok-1 spacecraft with Yury Gagarin onboard lifted off from the Baikonur Space Center. The 108-minute space flight changed the world forever, ushering in the space age. Yury Gagarin, a citizen of the Soviet Union, became the first space traveler in history.
Russia's Medvedev gives state honors to cosmonauts
14:38 12/04/2011
President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday awarded state honors to some of Russia's most senior cosmonauts as Russia is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first human space flight.
British film on Gagarin's flight posted on YouTube
12:31 12/04/2011
A documentary reconstructing Soviet cosmonaut Yury Gagarin's historic journey was posted on YouTube on Tuesday to mark the 50th anniversary of the first manned space flight.
President Dmitry Medvedev is proud of Russia for carrying out the first human spaceflight
11:21 12/04/2011
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he believed that Yury Gagarin’s spaceflight opened a “new era” in history, adding that he was proud of his country.
Yury Gagarin and his family
09:07 12/04/2011
Even Gagarin’s family, including his wife Valentina, his parents, and his children, did not know what would happen on April 12, 1961.
50 years after Gagarin flight Russia still has star dreams - Medvedev
08:05 12/04/2011
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hailed Yury Gagarin's flight into space 50 years as a symbolic, revolutionary event, adding that his country still dreams about "conquering" other planets and flying to distant stars.
Lost treasures of the Soviet space era
22:51 11/04/2011 Valery Simonov for RIA Novosti
While Russians will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first manned space flight on April 12 with impressive 50-salvo fireworks, Sotheby's in New York will be auctioning off the descent capsule of the Vostok 3KA-2 spacecraft in which the dog Zvezdochka safely returned to Earth after a test flight; a sensor-laden mannequin nicknamed Ivan Ivanovich was ejected during the descent and landed nearby.
The biography of Yury Gagarin, the first man in space
20:00 11/04/2011
Yury Gagarin became famous all over the world. Less than a month after his space flight, Gagarin traveled abroad for the first time. The first man in space went on a so-called Peace Mission, visiting Czechoslovakia, Finland, the United Kingdom, Bulgaria and Egypt.
Emotional women, a modest and brave man’s single fear
17:00 11/04/2011
Cosmonaut Georgy Grechko and Natalia Korolyova, the daughter of rocket and spacecraft designer Sergei Korolyov, remembered Yury Gagarin at the Moscow-based Memorial Space Travel Museum on April 8.
Queen guitarist records song for Gagarin
11:54 11/04/2011
Brian May, the guitarist from British rock group Queen, is recording a song dedicated to Soviet Cosmonaut Yury Gagarin, who became the first man to fly into space 50 years ago on Tuesday.
UN declares April 12 as International Day of Human Space Flight
04:11 08/04/2011
The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution at a special session on Thursday declaring April 12 the International Day of Human Space Flight.
Soyuz spacecraft docks with ISS
11:39 07/04/2011
A Russian capsule delivered three new crew members to the International Space Station on Wednesday.
The Soyuz spacecraft docked two days after blasting off from Kazakhstan.
Russian Soyuz spacecraft docks with orbital station
03:36 07/04/2011
The Russian Soyuz TMA-21 piloted spacecraft docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday.
Russian space agency events unchanged as chief's retirement announced
16:14 06/04/2011
Russian Federal Space Agency head Anatoly Perminov said on Wednesday the agency's scheduled events dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Yury Gagarin's historic flight to space will go ahead as planned despite rumors of his imminent retirement.
Gagarin was our icon – French astronaut Jean-Loup Chretien
15:09 06/04/2011
Paris celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first manned space flight by holding an official function at the Palace of Discovery April 4.
The celebrations involved Russian cosmonauts and French astronauts, top managers of Russia’s Federal Space Agency, the European Space Agency, the French National Center for Space Research, as well as diplomats and journalists.
Space race: From orbit to the moon
23:32 05/04/2011 Konstantin Bogdanov, for RIA Novosti
In the 1960s, the United States and the Soviet Union were locked in a fierce battle to become the world’s leading space power.
Anniversary launch of new expedition to ISS
18:16 05/04/2011
At 2:18 hours on April 5, a booster vehicle carrying the Gagarin Soyuz TMA-21 spaceship lifted off from the Baikonur Space Center. The spacecraft got its name in honor of the 50th anniversary of Yury Gagarin’s space flight.
Yury Gagarin: A down-to-earth person
17:55 05/04/2011
Yury Gagarin, the first cosmonaut in the world, remained a down-to-earth and approachable person to the end of his life. He was the first to see our planet from space but he never thought of himself as a star.
Variety of spacecraft
11:51 05/04/2011
Almost 1,000 spacecraft of different types are currently operating in space.
The benefits of space exploration
10:29 05/04/2011 MOSCOW, April 5 – RIA Novosti.
The dawning of the space age opened our eyes to the universe and the planet we inhabit, and the ability of humankind to venture beyond Earth’s atmosphere triggered a revolution in science – on this there was no disagreement among the Russian scientists interviewed by RIA Novosti in the run-up to the 50th anniversary of the first manned space flight.
Former cosmonaut offers first-hand account of the death of Yury Gagarin
14:28 04/04/2011 RIA Novosti special correspondent Alexander Kovalyov
Russian pilot and cosmonaut Vladimir Aksyonov has offered the most plausible account to date of the crash of the fighter jet that killed Yury Gagarin, the first man in space, and Vladimir Seryogin, a regimental commander at the cosmonaut training center where Gagarin was enrolled.
“Cinderella of the Stars” Valentina Tereshkova
13:08 04/04/2011
The first woman in space, ”Cinderella of the Stars” was born into a peasant family and worked at a textile factory after finishing evening school.
End-of-life disposal of spacecraft
10:43 04/04/2011
Spacecraft at the end of their operational life are de-orbited, and their fragments fall into the ocean
Cosmonaut selection criteria in Russia
10:21 02/04/2011
Cosmonaut selection criteria have been relaxed since the first manned space mission in 1961.
Fallen giant: The Soviet space industry
15:50 01/04/2011 Konstantin Bogdanov, for RIA Novosti
Ordinary Russians see little connection between space exploration and economics. If anything, they see expensive space programs as a permanent drain on the nation’s resources. Some are inclined to take it personally, as if the dark vacuum of space somehow sucked the money right out of their pockets.
UN mulls naming April 12 World Space Day
09:47 01/04/2011
The UN General Assembly will vote next week on a resolution to declare April 12 International Spaceflight Day, Russian envoy to the UN Vitaly Churkin said on Friday.
Yury Gagarin: Biography
17:21 30/03/2011
On April 12, 2011, Russia and the world will mark the 50th anniversary of the historic flight of Yury Gagarin, the first man in space.
What killed Yury Gagarin: Soviet report’s findings
09:30 27/03/2011
On March 27, 1968, news of a terrible tragedy broke: Yury Gagarin, first man in space, had been killed in an plane crash. Although experts continue to debate what caused the crash, they all agree that Gagarin’s death was quite bizarre.
Spacewalk
10:58 18/03/2011
On March 18, 1965 Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov became the first human to conduct a space walk
Yuri Gagarin’s space suit was not made for space walks
13:01 16/03/2011
The first Soviet space suit SK-1 was designed specially for Yuri Gagarin. It is still on display at the museum of the aerospace company Zvezda. SK-1 marked the beginning of space suit design in Russia.
Space suits designed for space walks began to be developed in the USSR in 1964. There have been several generations of space suits since. Orlan-MK is the latest model.
Musings of a Russophile: Russians - First in Space
17:41 11/03/2011 Weekly column by Frederick AndresenThere is a magnetic relationship between Russians and space. The world knows of their historic leadership in the field: Sputnik, Yuri Gagarin, Mir, and their famous rockets. Even the United States now uses Russian rockets to launch satellites. But there is another observation, an anomaly it seems, about Russians and space—right here on earth. On the streets of Moscow.

Houston to name avenue after Soviet cosmonaut Gagarin
14:24 09/03/2011
The Russkiy Mir foundation will next week name a park avenue in the U.S. city of Houston after the first man in space, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.
Yury Gagarin: Twenty-seven years and one day in the life of the first man in space
11:15 09/03/2011
“A pilot must fly, always fly,” Yury Gagarin wrote in his diary in the spring of 1968 shortly before his death in a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15-UTI Midget fighter crash. On March 9, 2011, Yuri Gagarin would have celebrated his 77th birthday.
Sotheby's to auction Soviet space capsule
11:56 24/02/2011
Sotheby's auction house announced on Thursday that it will auction a 1961 Soviet space capsule on April 12, the 50th anniversary of the first manned mission to space.
Statue to world's first spaceman Gagarin to go up in London
16:16 22/02/2011
A monument to world's first cosmonaut Yury Gagarin will be erected in downtown London in July, Britain's minister for universities and science, David Willetts, said.
Cosmonaut explains mystery of Gagarin plane crash
14:54 01/07/2010
A plausible theory into the mysterious plane crash that killed renowned Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin has been put forward in a limited edition book by fellow-cosmonaut Alexander Kovalyov, who was with Gagarin shortly before the fated plane took off.
Russian space dogs - Belka and Strelka
16:28 28/12/2009
In August 1960, two mongrel dogs named Belka (Little Squirrel) and Strelka (Little Arrow) became the first living creatures to perform a space flight and return safely to Earth.
- Images
Yury Gagarin, citizen of the world
20:49 28/04/2011
After his trailblazing flight into space, Yury Gagarin did not belong to himself any more. He became a citizen of the world.
Russian space pioneers
16:50 12/04/2011
The history of global cosmonautics written by Russian experts abounds in “firsts.”
April 12, 1961: A day in photos
16:00 12/04/2011
Fifty years ago, the Vostok-1 spacecraft with Yury Gagarin onboard lifted off from the Baikonur Space Center. The 108-minute space flight changed the world forever, ushering in the space age. Yury Gagarin, a citizen of the Soviet Union, became the first space traveler in history.
Yury Gagarin and his family
09:07 12/04/2011
Even Gagarin’s family, including his wife Valentina, his parents, and his children, did not know what would happen on April 12, 1961.
Anniversary launch of new expedition to ISS
18:16 05/04/2011
At 2:18 hours on April 5, a booster vehicle carrying the Gagarin Soyuz TMA-21 spaceship lifted off from the Baikonur Space Center. The spacecraft got its name in honor of the 50th anniversary of Yury Gagarin’s space flight.
Yury Gagarin: A down-to-earth person
17:55 05/04/2011
Yury Gagarin, the first cosmonaut in the world, remained a down-to-earth and approachable person to the end of his life. He was the first to see our planet from space but he never thought of himself as a star.
“Cinderella of the Stars” Valentina Tereshkova
13:08 04/04/2011
The first woman in space, ”Cinderella of the Stars” was born into a peasant family and worked at a textile factory after finishing evening school.
Yury Gagarin: Twenty-seven years and one day in the life of the first man in space
11:15 09/03/2011
“A pilot must fly, always fly,” Yury Gagarin wrote in his diary in the spring of 1968 shortly before his death in a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15-UTI Midget fighter crash. On March 9, 2011, Yuri Gagarin would have celebrated his 77th birthday.
- Video
ISS crew tells Medvedev of Cosmonaut Day plans
19:46 12/04/2011
On CosmonautDay Dmitry Medvedev visited the Mission Control Center in Korolev, Moscow Region. The president inspected the Center and spoke with the International Space Station crew.
Gagarin was chosen from six top candidates
18:49 12/04/2011
By March 1960, the Soviet Union had its first cosmonaut squad, which was made up of nine Air Force pilots, six Air Defense Force pilots and five Naval Aviation pilots, 20 people in total. Biomedical training of would-be cosmonauts included 10-15-day stints inside an isolation chamber, the so-called “dead room.” The candidates were also subjected to incredible stresses inside centrifuges, pressure and heat chambers.
Ten-year-old boy makes cartoon about Yury Gagarin
17:00 12/04/2011
Ten-year-old Ivan Kuzmin from Yaroslavl has made an animated cartoon called “Gagarin’s Secret” about the childhood of Yury Gagarin, the first man in space, showing how an ordinary boy became a space traveler.
President Dmitry Medvedev is proud of Russia for carrying out the first human spaceflight
11:21 12/04/2011
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he believed that Yury Gagarin’s spaceflight opened a “new era” in history, adding that he was proud of his country.
Emotional women, a modest and brave man’s single fear
17:00 11/04/2011
Cosmonaut Georgy Grechko and Natalia Korolyova, the daughter of rocket and spacecraft designer Sergei Korolyov, remembered Yury Gagarin at the Moscow-based Memorial Space Travel Museum on April 8.
Soyuz spacecraft docks with ISS
11:39 07/04/2011
A Russian capsule delivered three new crew members to the International Space Station on Wednesday.
The Soyuz spacecraft docked two days after blasting off from Kazakhstan.
Gagarin was our icon – French astronaut Jean-Loup Chretien
15:09 06/04/2011
Paris celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first manned space flight by holding an official function at the Palace of Discovery April 4.
The celebrations involved Russian cosmonauts and French astronauts, top managers of Russia’s Federal Space Agency, the European Space Agency, the French National Center for Space Research, as well as diplomats and journalists.
Yuri Gagarin’s space suit was not made for space walks
13:01 16/03/2011
The first Soviet space suit SK-1 was designed specially for Yuri Gagarin. It is still on display at the museum of the aerospace company Zvezda. SK-1 marked the beginning of space suit design in Russia.
Space suits designed for space walks began to be developed in the USSR in 1964. There have been several generations of space suits since. Orlan-MK is the latest model.
- Infographics
Humans in space: results of the past 50 years
11:00 14/04/2011
Many records were set during the 50-year history of manned space travel.
Cosmonaut centrifuge training
17:55 13/04/2011
Centrifuges are used to simulate the effects of gravity in order to test pilots' and cosmonauts’ performance and reaction time under high-g conditions.
The biography of Yury Gagarin, the first man in space
20:00 11/04/2011
Yury Gagarin became famous all over the world. Less than a month after his space flight, Gagarin traveled abroad for the first time. The first man in space went on a so-called Peace Mission, visiting Czechoslovakia, Finland, the United Kingdom, Bulgaria and Egypt.
Variety of spacecraft
11:51 05/04/2011
Almost 1,000 spacecraft of different types are currently operating in space.
End-of-life disposal of spacecraft
10:43 04/04/2011
Spacecraft at the end of their operational life are de-orbited, and their fragments fall into the ocean
Cosmonaut selection criteria in Russia
10:21 02/04/2011
Cosmonaut selection criteria have been relaxed since the first manned space mission in 1961.
What killed Yury Gagarin: Soviet report’s findings
09:30 27/03/2011
On March 27, 1968, news of a terrible tragedy broke: Yury Gagarin, first man in space, had been killed in an plane crash. Although experts continue to debate what caused the crash, they all agree that Gagarin’s death was quite bizarre.
Spacewalk
10:58 18/03/2011
On March 18, 1965 Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov became the first human to conduct a space walk
Russian space dogs - Belka and Strelka
16:28 28/12/2009
In August 1960, two mongrel dogs named Belka (Little Squirrel) and Strelka (Little Arrow) became the first living creatures to perform a space flight and return safely to Earth.
- Comments
Story
Yury Gagarin - first man in space
On April 12, 1961, Yury Gagarin made the first space flight on the Vostok spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Space Center. RIA Novosti presents a special project dedicated to the 50th anniversary of man’s first journey into outer space.








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