FX.co ★ Cosmonautics Day: Russians celebrate 56th anniversary of first human space flight

In the far year of 1961, on April 12, Yuri Gagarin took the first-ever flight into the outer space. “I saw the beauty of our planet. Let's preserve and expand this beauty, not destroy it!” the cosmonaut wrote in his diary. On April 9, 1962 the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the USSR established the commemorative day in honor of this fight.

Six years ago the General Assembly of the United Nations declared 12 April as the International Day of Human Space Flight. In some countries the Yuri's Night celebration is held named after the first Russian cosmonaut.

Yuri Gagarin's spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The first cosmonaut spent 108 minutes on the earth orbital.

The world-famous space dogs, Belka and Strelka, were the first ones to go on a space journey. The animals took a flight in the Sputnik 5 craft in 1960.

After Yuri Gagarin's journey, more than 550 astronauts from over 40 countries conquered the space. The cosmos still attracts people with its magnificence.