That’s one small step for a man, a giant leap for mankind.
– Neil Armstrong

Hello fellows! Today is Cosmonautics Day, one of the most memorable dates in Russia and some former USSR countries. Celebrated annually on April, 12, it was established as a holiday in 1962, next year after the remarkable event in the history of mankind. On April, 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin, the major of Soviet Air Force, said “Here we go!” before the first manned space flight to orbit the earth. It is still considered to be one of the most remarkable achievements, made by humans yet. So April, 12, was chosen to commemorate the anniversary of Gagarin’s flight, and since that this date has been celebrated as Cosmonautics Day worldwide.

He was 27 year old only, when after having made his unbelievable flight aboard “Vostok1”, the Soviet spacecraft (constructed by Sergey Korolyov, the famous rocket engineer and designer), Gagarin became a worldwide hero. In fact, he opened a new chapter in the worldwide space exploration history. Yuri’s Night, the ceremony of international commemorational celebration of the process of space exploration, was named after him, Yuri Gagarin.

Gagarin’s flight lasted only 108 minutes – it sounds a few nowadays. Besides, these 108 minutes turned people’s dreams about space flights into reality. After these 108 minutes Neil Armstrong could say his famous “That’s one small step for a man, a giant leap for mankind” saying, considering the first walk on the Moon. There were Neil Armstrong, Valentina Tereshkova (known as the first Russian lady to have flown in space), Alan Shepard, German Titov and many, many others, who are believed to be the true space frontiers. They were heroes for whole generations; young boys and girls grown to dream about being cosmonautics. These people changed human’s life forever.