Cosmonautics Day

dedication of the first manned space flight made on 12 April 1961

by the 27-year-old Russian Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Gagarin circled the Earth for 1 hour and 48 minutes aboard the Vostok 1 spacecraft.

opened a new era in the history of space exploration.

Gagarin became a national hero of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc and a famous figure around the world. 

city of Korolyov, near Gagarin's statue. Participants then proceed under police

escort to Red Square for a visit to Gagarin's grave in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis, and continue to Cosmonauts Alley, near the Monument to the Conquerors of Space. Finally, the festivities conclude with a visit to the Novodevichy Cemetery.

celebrate this day as the World Aviation and Astronautics Day.
On

12 April 1981, exactly 20 years after Vostok 1, a Space Shuttlewas launched for the first orbital flight, although this was a coincidence as the launch of STS-1 had been delayed for two days.
On 7 April 2011, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring 12 April as the International Day of Human Space Flight.

was a Soviet Air Forces pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to

journey into outer space, achieving a major milestone in the Space Race; his capsule Vostok 1 completed one orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961. Gagarin became an international celebrity and was awarded many medals and titles, including Hero of the Soviet Union, his nation's highest honour.