How the world greeted Gagarin after his historic spaceflight (PHOTOS)
Russia Beyond
Gina Lollobrigida and Yury Gagarin at the 2nd Moscow Film Festival
Leonid Velikzhanin, Valery Mastyukov/TASS
April 12, 1961, was a day that changed history. The first human flew into space and returned safely, becoming the number one celebrity in the world. In his homeland, he was greeted like a rock star, and countries all over the world clambered to invite him to visit.
Sixty years ago, at 10:02 Moscow time, the TASS news agency broadcast a report about the first crewed flight into space, which became the hottest news item in the world. In the Soviet Union, everyone dropped what they were doing. The nation sat glued to the radio, long lines stretched in front of newsstands, and jubilant crowds gathered in the center of Moscow and other towns and cities.