Putin touts space power as Gagarin hailed
AFP, MOSCOW
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday called for the nation to remain a great power in space, as it celebrated the 60th anniversary of the legendary flight that made Yuri Gagarin the first person in orbit.
Russia’s space industry has struggled and been hit by a series of mishaps, but the sending of the first human into space on April 12, 1961, remains a major source of national pride.
After visiting a memorial in southern Russia at the site where Gagarin landed after his 108-minute trip around the Earth, Putin told his government to do more to maintain Moscow’s standing in space.
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Russians celebrate 60 years since Yuri Gagarin s spaceflight
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Russians celebrate 60 years since Yuri Gagarin s spaceflight
AFP / Apr 12, 2021, 08:25 IST
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A board with Yuri Gagarin s portrait with backdrop of Moscow International Business Centre, also known as Moskva-City is seen on the eve of Cosmonautics Day in Moscow
MOSCOW: Russians on Monday celebrate the 60th anniversary of the first manned flight to space carried out by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin as the Soviet hero remains one of the most admired figures in the country.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to travel to Engels, a city in the south of the country on the banks of the Volga river, to the site of the cosmonaut s landing where a memorial stands to honour the historic flight.
Sixty years ago on Monday cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space, securing victory for Moscow in its race with Washington and marking a new chapter in the history of space exploration.
Decades later, his journey has become shrouded in myth after many details about the historic mission were for years kept secret by the Soviets.
On April 12, 1961, Gagarin s Vostok spacecraft took off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, then part of the Soviet Union, as the 27-year-old cosmonaut exclaimed his iconic catchphrase Let s go! .
His flight lasted just 108 minutes, the time it took to complete one loop around the Earth, before returning to home soil.