Yury Gagarin – the first man in space!

By the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Zimbabwe

On April 12, 1961, Yury Gagarin opened the way into Space for Humanity. Since 2011 on Russia’s initiative, April 12 has been marked as the International Day of Human Space Flight by the UN General Assembly Resolution.

In 1959 the Soviet Union launched the first satellite. The same year the Soviet interplanetary probe became the first man-made device to have reached the Moon. In 1960, Belka and Strelka, the two dogs, were launched and returned back to Earth after 25-hour orbital flight.

The first cosmonaut was to be selected from the contingent of fighter pilots with long flight records. By the moment Gagarin started training he had 230 hours in flight to his credit.

His Vostok spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur space site at 09:07 Moscow time on April 12. Yury Gagarin’s phrase before launching “Poyehali!” (“Let’s go!”), became famous and popular worldwide.

The flight lasted for 108 minutes. The spacecraft orbited the Earth once. It was a world sensation turned into Moscow’s global appeal for peace and halting the arm’s race. That was emphasized during Gagarin’s Peace Mission International Tour when he was welcomed in many countries at the highest level.

Despite the Cold War that was going on at the time, the Soviet Union’s triumph wasn’t about a victory over someone. It was about the joy that filled everyone around the world with recognition of new possibilities, the confidence that due to the genius of scientists and the tireless efforts of engineers humanity will reach new heights.

Nowadays Russia with the ambitious Space Programme is eager to contribute to developing the Zimbabwe National Geospatial and Space Agency (ZINGSA) in pursuance to the highest level accord between President Vladimir Putin and President Emmerson Mnangagwa made in the course of the Zimbabwean Leader historic visit to Moscow in 2019.

The Roskosmos State Corporation for Space Activities and ZINGSA have intensified preparing MoU on Exploration and Use of Space for Peaceful Purposes.