Yuri Gagarin: 50th anniversary of the first man in space

In the West, memories of the Space Race are dominated by Neil Armstrong and Apollo. But in Russia, it is the cult of Gagarin that rules, says Richard Orange.

It was only once dawn broke on the icy steppe that the small, shivering crowd could clearly make out the grinning face of Yuri Gagarin. Fifty years, almost to the day, after the Soviet cosmonaut became the first human being to travel into space, an image from the day of the launch had been painted onto the hulking Soyuz rocket, which was being tugged across the plain by an ageing diesel train. As the rocket was winched into its launch position, the face swivelled upright. Alongside it was the word “Poyekali”, or “Let’s go”, Gagarin’s final statement before he was launched into history.

In the West, memories of the Space Race are dominated by Neil Armstrong and Apollo. But in Russia, it is the cult of Gagarin that rules. Last Thursday, prime minister Vladimir Putin visited Gagarin’s hometown near Moscow, and tonight he hosts a glittering party at the Kremlin. In Baikonur – the Russian space agency’s launch station, now rented from the Kazakh government – there will be a star-studded reception, for which many former cosmonauts have been flown in from Moscow, and a concert in the city’s main stadium.
By Richard Orange