The personal file of the first cosmonaut to be presented at the Presidential Library

Declassified and digitized materials from the personal file of Yuri Gagarin will be presented at the annual conference "Cosmonautics Day in the Presidential Library". The event will take place on April 12 at 10:00 Moscow time.

The personal file of the first cosmonaut of the planet was transferred to the Presidential Library for digitization by the Roscosmos State Corporation as part of a cooperation agreement signed in March 2023. In the near future, the materials will be placed in the Presidential Library.

Gagarin's personal file includes a questionnaire, a detailed table on the passage of active military service in the Soviet army, a list of positions in the cosmonaut corps, from a student to a pilot-engineer-cosmonaut, information about marital status, characteristics from the place of study and other documents.

Many facts of Gagarin's biography are widely known, but the personal file contains some interesting details. For example, that he had the second sports category and the first judicial category in basketball. No less interesting is the autobiography written by Gagarin himself.

The conference participants will not only learn new information about the man who first conquered space. The event program includes speeches on the history and prospects of Russian cosmonautics. Thus, veterans of the space industry will talk about the beginning of the space age. Crew members who worked on the ISS will share their experience. The history of manned space stations, the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the preparation and launch of the Vostok spacecraft, the Buran reusable transport spacecraft, the latest space developments, space-themed postage stamps and even space perfume will be the topics of separate speeches.  

The event will be attended by cosmonauts, representatives of the Roscosmos State Corporation, Energia Society, the North-West Interregional Public Organization of the Cosmonautics Federation of the Russian Federation, the V. P. Glushko Museum of Cosmonautics and Rocketry, the Kosmicheskaya Samara Museum and Exhibition Complex, teachers, students and cadets of higher educational institutions of St. Petersburg. Participants from other cities of Russia will connect to them via the video conferencing mode.

The conference is free. The event will be broadcast on the Presidential Library’s portal in Live broadcasts section in accordance with the program of live events, on the Rutube-channel of the institution, as well as on the pages on the social networks VKontakte and Odnoklassniki.

The Presidential Library’s portal features the electronic collection Outer Space. It includes fragments of newsreel, research, periodicals, documentaries, video lectures, postcards, commemorative medals and badges that spotlight various milestones in the development of astronautics.

Accreditation of media representatives is until 12:00 April 11, 2023

Please forward applications for accreditation following the attached form marked Media Accreditation at media@prlib.ru, hudjakova@prlib.ru Alexandra Khudyakova, tel.: (812) 305-16-21, ext. 167; mob. +7 (981) 788-28-08.

The letter should contain the full name, date and place of birth, passport data (series, number, place of registration), a list of carry-on equipment, contact phone numbers, the name of the media.

We draw the attention of the media representatives that it is necessary to forward applications for accreditation and arrive at the event in advance.

Entrance to the Presidential Library is carried out only by prior registration and upon showing a passport: for media representatives - through entrance № 2, participants and guests of the event - through entrance № 1.

In order to reduce the risks of the spread of a new coronavirus infection (COVID-19), the use of personal protective equipment during the event is mandatory for all attendees.