60 Years in Space Since Gagarin’s “Poekhali!”

60 years ago on 12 April 1961, the first human space flight was carried out by Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet citizen. Today marks the the International Day of Human Space Flight.

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‘Today our industry is not only celebrating the anniversary and remembering the past, we also focus on the future, we are on the verge of very important changes in our industry,’ said Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin.

On this occasion, Russian crewmembers of the 64th long-term expedition to the International Space Station, Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov,  Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, Oleg Novitsky, and Pyotr Dubrov greeted everyone from the station and congratulated on Cosmonautics Day celebrated annually on April 12.

"The significance of this breakthrough into near-earth space cannot be overestimated. The launch of the Vostok spacecraft ushered in a new era in the centuries-long chronicle of civilisation. Our great compatriot made a tremendous contribution to the progressive development of humankind, and confirmed our people’s ability to effectively cope with the most challenging and responsible tasks," said the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight into space.

Lavrov stressed Russia's support of the prevention of an arms race in outer space emphasising that Russia supports the launch of negotiations on the development of an international legally binding instrument prohibiting the deployment of any type of weapon there and the use or threat of force.

"We propose using the relevant Russian-Chinese draft treaty submitted at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva in 2014 as a basis for the future document. To stabilise the situation while such a multilateral document remains in the works, we propose relying on the international initiative (put forth by Russia and supported by other countries) for countries to make a political commitment on no-first-placement of weapons in outer space. About 30 countries have already joined it," added Russia's minister of Foreign Affairs at his video address today.

The Russian Ministry of Defenсe published, for the first time, unique photographs and documents about the first Russian cosmonauts commemorating the 60th anniversary of the first manned flight into space.

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