Today, the world celebrates the 60th anniversary of the first manned space flight. On this day in 1961 Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into space. When responding to the ground control if he was ready, he said his famous “Poekhali!” meaning “Let’s go!” in Russian. His Vostok1 spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 09:07 (Moscow time). Gagarin made a single orbit around Earth at an altitude of 302 Km, proving a human could survive in space and even perform useful tasks. His first report sent to the ground control from space was “The Earth is blue. [...]. How wonderful. It is amazing.” The entire flight took 108 minutes and forever changed the world.

Following his historic flight, between 1961 and 1965 Yuri Gagarin embarked on a long world tour dubbed the ‘Peace Mission’, advocating for global peace and cooperation. He visited 32 countries, met with heads of state, politicians, artists and people in the streets.

On 27 March 1968, while on a routine training flight from Chkalovsky Air Base, Gagarin and flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin died when their MiG-15UTI crashed near the town of Kirzhach. The bodies of Gagarin and Seryogin were cremated and their ashes interred in the walls of the Kremlin.

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