Russians celebrate 60 years since historic Gagarin spaceflight

MOSCOW: Russia yesterday celebrated the 60th anniversary of the legendary flight that made Yuri Gagarin the first man in space, a major source of national pride for millions of his countrymen. Russia’s space industry has struggled in recent years and been hit by a series of mishaps, but the sending of the first human into space on April 12, 1961 remains a crowning achievement of the Soviet space program.

President Vladimir Putin was to travel Monday to the southern city of Engels on the banks of the Volga River, to the site of the cosmonaut’s landing where a memorial stands to honor the historic flight.

He was to be accompanied by Valentina Tereshkova, a Soviet cosmonaut and the first woman in space. The day of Gagarin’s flight is celebrated every year in Russia as Cosmonautics Day, and this year authorities are pulling out all the stops to mark the 60th anniversary, with round-the-clock television coverage, murals on high-rises and laser projections of Gagarin’s portrait.

For Moscow commuters, the morning started with a broadcast on the Metro of the original report by state news agency TASS about the launch, followed by Gagarin’s legendary words-”Poekhali!” (Let’s go) — as his Vostok spacecraft lifted off. In a message from the International Space Station, the four Russians on board saluted “all earthlings” and hailed Gagarin’s accomplishment.

“Gagarin’s legendary 108-minute flight became an example of heroism for his successors, including us,” said cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky. Vostok took off carrying the 27-year-old son of a carpenter and a dairy farmer from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, then part of the Soviet Union. —AFP