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World Aviation and Astronautics Day. The first human in space
“…The humanity won’t stay on the Earth forever, but, chasing light and space, will,
shyly at first, exceed the atmosphere limits and then gain the space near the sun”.
K. E. Tsiolkovsky
Aeronautics Day was established under the decree of the USSR Supreme Soviet Presidium of April 9, 1962 in honor of the first man’s travel into space made by Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin on April 12, 1961. In November of 1968 the congress of the International Aviation sport Federation resolved to celebrate the day of 12 April as the World Aviation and Aeronautics Day and April 8, 2011 at a meeting of the UN General Assembly was adopted a resolution proposed by Russia, according to which April 12 was declared the International Day of manned space flight.
One of the first men, who put forward the idea of using rockets for space flight, was a Russian scientist Konstantin E. Tsiolkovsky. He designed a rocket for interplanetary communications back in 1903.
Half a century later, on October 4, 1957, with the support of the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile R-7, designed by Soviet scientist Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial satellite, which allowed for the first time to measure the density of the upper atmosphere, to obtain data on propagation of radio signals in the ionosphere, to work out how to put spaceship on the orbit, thermal rate, etc.
In early 1960 was established the Cosmonaut Training Center and the first cosmonaut unit formed.
On April 12, 1961 at 9:07 a.m. Moscow time, some tens kilometers north of Tyuratam village, Kazakhstan, ‘Vostok’ carrier rocket was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome. It set into the near-earth orbit the Soviet spaceship ‘Vostok’ carrying a man on board.
The flight lasted for 1 hour 48 minutes. During the time he was on the orbit Gagarin maintained radio contact with Earth, made observations from the viewing ports, controlled the work of the spaceship structures.
Having made one turn around the Earth the descent vehicle landed in the territory of the USSR, in Saratov region. In accordance with the initial plan the cosmonaut ejected himself at the altitude of few kilometers from Earth and landed with a parachute not far from the descent vehicle. The cosmonaut’s landing took place at 10:55 a.m. Moscow time.
Under the decree of the Defense Minister of the USSR for the successful accomplishment of the government task the first cosmonaut of the Earth, Lieutenant Gagarin was given the rank of major out-of-turn.
On April 14, 1961 under the decree of the USSR Supreme Soviet Presidium Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was given the honorary title of the Hero of the Soviet Union and awarded with the Order of Lenin and the ‘Golden Star’ medal.
The first man flight into space was of a primary importance for the future aeronautics development. It gave rise to a new era in the history of space discovery and opened the door into space for many brave Universe explorers.
After Gagarin 7 - 6 August 1961 the first 24 -hour space flight was made by cosmonaut Gherman Titov in a spaceship "Vostok-2", and August 11-15 took place the first group flight of two spaceships - Vostok-3 "(Cosmonaut Andrian N. Nikolayev) and Vostok-4" (Cosmonaut Pavel R. Popovich).
The world's first woman space flight was carried out by Valentina V. Tereshkova, from 16 to 19 June 1963 on a spaceship "Vostok-6". 12 October 1964 was launched the first multi-seater spacecraft Voskhod. The ship's crew included cosmonaut Vladimir M. Komarov, Konstantin P. Feoktistov, Boris B. Yegorov.
March 18, 1965 was put on the orbit the spaceship "Voskhod-2 with two astronauts on board - the ship commander, Colonel Pavel I. Belyaev and co-pilot Lieutenant Colonel Alexei A. Leonov. At 11:30 a. m. Moscow time Leonov performed the world's first spacewalk. Astronaut had been outside the spacecraft (from the moment he left the airlock until reentering it) 12 min 09 sec., he moved away from the ship to a distance of 5.35 m. During this time the astronaut had carried out observations and videotaping.
The next stage of Russia's manned space flight was the creation of multi-use Soyuz spacecraft that could perform complex maneuvers on the orbit, closer in and dock with other ships, and long-term orbital stations "Salut".
From 1 to 19 June, 1969 cosmonauts Andrian Nikolayev and Vitaly Sevastyanov on spacecraft "Soyuz-9” made the first long-duration space autonomous flight.
In July 1975 was held the first international space mission: the spaceship “Soyuz-19", piloted by Alexei Leonov and Valery Kubasov, docked on the orbit the American spaceship "Apollo".
In mid-1980s "Salute" stations were replaced with a new near-earth laboratory - the station "Mir", which had been in operation until June 2000. 28 major long expeditions and 16 visiting expeditions lasting from weeks to months were held. In addition, 9 visiting expeditions on the ships of the Space Shuttle system were carried out. The station housed 11.5 tons of scientific equipment from 27 countries.
Space complex "Mir" was replaced on the orbit with the International Space Station (ISS), to the construction of which contributed 16 countries. For the creation of a new space complex were widely used Russian advances in the field of manned spaceflight.
Lit.: Борзенко С. А., Денисов Н. Н. Первый космонавт. М., 1969; Борисенко И. Г. На космических стартах и финишах. М., 1975; Гагарин Ю. А. Дорога в космос. Записки лётчика-космонавта СССР. М., 1961; Гагарин. Поехали! Как это было [Электронный ресурс] // Госкорпорация «РОСКОСМОС». Б. д. URL: https://www.roscosmos.ru/22011/; Гильзин К. А. Путешествие к далёким мирам. М., 1956; Жаков А. М. Основы космонавтики. СПб., 2000; Комсомольская правда. 1961. 13 апреля. № 88; То же [Электронный ресурс]. URL: http://www.oldgazette.ru/kopravda/13041961/index1.html; Проект «Мы верим в космос» [Электронный ресурс] // Госкорпорация «РОСКОСМОС». Б. д. URL: http://inspacewetrust.org/ru/; РКК «Энергия» им. С. П. Королёва: сайт. 2018. URL: http://www.energia.ru/; Тарасов Е. В. Космонавтика. М., 1977; Уманский С. П. Космическая одиссея. М., 1988; Циолковский К. Э. Труды по космонавтике. М., 1967; Эстафета космических подвигов (сборник). М., 1981.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:
Outer Space: [digital collection];
Мировая история: В Лондоне установят памятник Юрию Гагарину // Новости. 9 апреля 2011;