Universe Today
[caption id="attachment_84728" align="aligncenter" width="516" caption="Celebrate Yuri's Night on April 12, 2011 -- 50th Anniversary of Human Spaceflight
On April 12, 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (left, on the way to the launch pad) became the first human in space, making a 108-minute orbital flight in his Vostok 1 spacecraft.
Newspapers like The Huntsville Times (right) trumpeted Gagarin's accomplishment.
Credit: NASA
Send Ken your Yuri's Night event reports and photos"]
[/caption]
Mark your calendars. April 12, 2011 marks the 50th Anniversary of Human Spaceflight and Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's astonishing First Orbit of our precious planet Earth on April 12, 1961. Gagarin was the first human to enter outer space and see what no one else had ever witnessed – our commonly shared
Earth
as a planet and beautiful blue globe with no borders.
Space enthusiasts worldwide are celebrating this watershed moment in Human history at a network of
over 400 "Yuri's Night" parties
taking place in more than 70 countries on 6 continents and 2 worlds, according to the official
"Yuri's Night" website
.
Gagarin's flight took place in the midst of the inflammatory Cold War rivalry between the Soviet Union and
the United States
and shocked the world into new realities. The Space Race led to the first lunar landing by the United States and Neil Armstrong's first steps on
the moons surface
in 1969. Eventually, the world's superpowers beat swords into plowshares and united their efforts to build the
International Space Station
.
[caption id="attachment_84735" align="alignleft" width="358" caption="Yuri Gagarin - first human in space. Credit: Russian Archives"]
[/caption]Yuri Gagarin was the first person to boldly leave the bonds of
Earth's gravity
and thus became the first "Spaceman". Gagarin
blasted off
inside the bell-shaped Vostok 1 spaceship from the launch pad at Baikonur at 9:07 a.m, Moscow time (607 UTC) to begin the era of
human spaceflight
.
Gagarin flew around
the Earth
in a single orbit at an altitude of 302 kilometers (187 miles). The flight lasted 108 minutes and safely ended when he descended back and parachuted to the ground, just north of the Caspian Sea. At the age of 27, Gagarin was instantly transformed into a worldwide hero. After the momentous flight he soon embarked on an international tour.
20 years later on April 12, 1981, NASA's first
space shuttle
blasted off on the
STS-1 mission
on a daring test flight with astronauts John Young and Bob Crippen strapped inside
Space Shuttle
Columbia.
[caption id="attachment_84736" align="alignleft" width="176" caption="Russian postcard featuring Yuri Gagarin"]
[/caption] The first
"Yuri's Night – World Space Party"
was held on April 12, 2001 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Gagarin's spaceflight. Over 10,000 people attended 64 events located worldwide. The goal was to inspire people, increase awareness and support for
space exploration
across the globe and foster the
spread of new ideas
to broaden our access to
space
.
"Yuri's Night"
has been growing in popularity every year. Events range in size from a few folks to numbers in the thousands. Attendees range from astronauts and cosmonauts, NASA and global space agency officials and reps, scientists and engineers, famous actors, playwrights, writers, artists, athletes and musicians to just everyday folks and kids of all ages and backgrounds. Everyone can get involved.
[caption id="attachment_84737" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="Yuri Gagarin in orbit"]
[/caption]In honor of the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's flight, documentary film maker Christopher Riley conceived and created
a film titled "First Orbit"
to try and show the approximate view of
Earth
that Gagarin actually saw. There is only scant footage of Gagarin's actual flight and he himself took no pictures of the Earth from orbit.
"First Orbit"
recreates much of the view of the Earth's surface that Gagarin would have seen fifty years ago. Mostly he flew over the world oceans as well as the Soviet Union and Africa.
Riley collaborated with the astronauts aboard the International Space Station,
chiefly Paolo Nespoli of ESA
, who took film footage from the new 7 windowed Cupola as the station matched the actual flight path of Gagarin and Vostok 1 as closely as possible. The free film celebrates 50 years of
human spaceflight
.
"First Orbit"
premiers worldwide on YouTube in a special global streaming event for Yuri's Night on April 12 . Watch the short trailer below, with original and stirring music by Philip Sheppard.
[caption id="attachment_84739" align="alignleft" width="590" caption="Orbital flight path of Yuri Gagarin and Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961
Gagarin's call sign was Cedar or Kder - which means Siberian Pine in Russian. Map courtesy of Sven Grahn "]
[/caption]
It's easy and free to register your local party at the
Yuri's Night event website
. There is still time to register your Yuri's Night party - Indeed the list has grown as I typed out this story !
Some
events
are already set to kick off this weekend. I'll be presenting at an interactive and free
Yuri's Night evening event in Princeton Junction, New Jersey,
about Gagarin's flight and my experiences with the space shuttle and what's beyond.
Send Ken your "Yuri's Night" event photos/short report to post in a round up story at Universe Today about the
global festivities
celebrating the historic achievement of Yuri Gagarin. Email kremerken at yahoo dot com
First Orbit Trailer II
[caption id="attachment_84742" align="aligncenter" width="580" caption="Russian built Mini Research Module MRM-1 launched aboard US Space Shuttle Atlantis in May 2010.
Shuttle Atlantis delivered MRM-1 (known as Rassvet) to the International Space Station.
MRM-1 undergoes final prelaunch processing inside clean room at Astrotech Space Operations Facility in Florida. Docking port to ISS is protected by red colored covering. Equipment airlock for experiments at top. Russian Flag mounted at left.
Rassvet underscores the cooperation that exists today, in stark contrast to their rivalry during the Cold War. Russia, the United States, Europe, Japan and Canada have now united their space exploration efforts to build the International Space Station. The worlds space powers cooperate in other space exploration projects today as well that venture to the Moon, Mars and beyond to Deep Space. Credit: Ken Kremer"]
[/caption]
Read Ken's other stories about Yuri Gagarin and Yuri's Night:
Yuri Gagarin and Vostok 1 Photo Album – 50th Anniversary of Human Spaceflight
Stirring Video Tributes to Yuri Gagarin
Yuri's Night Website
Yuri's Night Party list
Yuri's Night Party with Ken in Princeton Junction, NJ, USA
First Orbit Website
STS-1 NASA Mission Website
Ken Kremer