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Human Space Flight Marks 2 Big Anniversaries

   VOA News  April 12, 2011
   
Photo: REUTERS

   A man passes a portrait of Yuri Gagarin during a ceremonial reception,
   dedicated to the upcoming Day of Aviation and Cosmonautics and the 50th
   anniversary of Gagarin's historic first space flight celebrated on
   April 12, in Moscow, April 11, 2011.

   Tuesday is the 50th anniversary of the first manned spaceflight, and
   the 30th anniversary of the first launch of a U.S. space shuttle.
   On April 12, 1961, 27-year-old Yuri Gagarin blasted off in the
   sphere-shaped Vostok 1 capsule, made one orbit around the Earth, and
   re-entered the planet's atmosphere, after his 108-minute flight.
   A Soviet Air Force pilot, Gagarin was killed in a flight training
   exercise on March 27, 1968.
   Twenty years to the day after Gagarin first circled the Earth, American
   astronauts John Young and pilot Robert Crippen blasted into space
   aboard the space shuttle Columbia for its maiden flight in 1981. The
   U.S. space agency, [1]NASA, plans to end the 30-year shuttle program
   later this year.
   NASA will announce Tuesday where the shuttles Endeavour, Atlantis and a
   prototype, Enterprise, will go on display after the final shuttle
   mission takes place. That mission is now scheduled for June. More than
   20 museums are vying to be the spacecrafts' new home.
   After re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, Gagarin ejected from Vostok 1
   and parachuted to earth. The Soviet government kept this a secret for
   many years for fear the historic flight would not be considered valid
   because Gagarin did not land with his spacecraft.
   The former Soviet Union's 1961 victory in manned spaceflight gave it an
   advantage over the Americans in the Cold War era race to reach the
   moon. However, the competition was settled in 1969 when the United
   States became the first nation to put men on the moon.
   Since then, the U.S., Russia and other countries have become partners
   in building and continually manning the International Space Station.
   Last week, a Russian Soyuz capsule ferried two Russian cosmonauts and
   an American astronaut to the ISS for a five-month stay. They joined
   three crewmates already aboard the orbiting science outpost.

References

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   1. http://www.nasa.gov/

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   2. file://localhost/tmp/lynxXXXXr-ap7a/%2050th%20anniversary%20of%20Gagarin's%20historic%20first%20space%20flight%20celebrated%20on%20April%2012

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