World Aviation and Cosmonautics Day

The whole world celebrates Aviation and Cosmonautics Day on April 12. This is a memorable date dedicated to the first human flight into space, the day of the triumph of science and all those who work in the space industry.

Cosmonautics Day was established in the Soviet Union by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on April 9, 1962 and received international status in 1968 at the conference of the International Aviation Federation. It has another name - International Day of Human Space Flight since 2011. The official resolution was adopted at the initiative of Russia at a special plenary session of the UN General Assembly on April 7, 2011. More than 60 States have become co-sponsors of the resolution.

The first flight into space was a turning point in human history. Senior Lieutenant Yuri Gagarin, a citizen of the Soviet Union, made an orbital overflight of the Earth on the Vostok spacecraft on April 12, 1961.

Chief Structural Engineer of the USSR Sergey Korolev was responsible for the creation of the manned spacecraft, Leonid Voskresensky and Anatoly Kirillov were also in charge of the significant launch.

The flight, which lasted only 108 minutes, was a powerful breakthrough in space exploration. The whole planet knew the name of the Soviet cosmonaut within a day: news agencies reported on the victory of the USSR in the "space race", and the world's largest newspapers came out with a portrait of the hero on the front pages.

Interesting fact: Yuri Gagarin went into space with the rank of senior lieutenant, and landed as a major.

The extraordinary promotion, bypassing the captain's, was awarded to the first cosmonaut on the day of the flight, and two days later, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Gagarin became a Hero of the Soviet Union.

Amazing advances in the field of space technology and the exploration of the universe have been made over the past decades: tens of thousands of different satellites revolve around the Earth, man-made spacecraft have landed on the Moon, bringing samples of lunar soil back to Earth, astronomical probes and rovers landed on the surface of Mars and Venus, about 500 people from more than 40 countries have been in space.

It was Yuri Gagarin's flight that marked the beginning of the space age, and we are proud that the Soviet man was the first to reach the Earth's orbit! Our cosmonauts today continue the work of Yuri Gagarin, consolidating the country's successes in the development of manned programs and space exploration.

We congratulate everyone on the holiday and wish new victories and successes, peaceful skies, happiness and prosperity!