Celebrating Cosmonautics Day in Russia: Space Yesterday & Today

In 2011, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the first space flight by Gagarin this date was also declared as the International Day of Human Space Flight.

Having travelled around the Earth for 1 hour and 48 minutes, the reentry module landed on the territory of the Soviet Union. At an altitude of several miles from the surface of the Earth, Gagarin ejected with a parachute and landed on a field near the Volga River.

Just in time for Cosmonautics Day, Sputnik published the newly declassified archival documents with never-before-seen materials on Yuri Gagarin.

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The Vostok-1 spaceship blasting off from the Baikonur space center.

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Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin aboard 'Vostok-1' spacecraft.

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Yuri Gagarin preparing for space flight.

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Nikita Khrushchev, CPSU Central Committee First Secretary, 2nd right, and his wife Nina, right, receive Yuri Gagarin, the world's first space pilot, 2nd left, and his wife Valentina, left, in the Kremlin.

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Roskosmos Cosmonauts Sergei Volkov and Yury Malenchenko performing extravehicular activities on February 3, 2016.

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The descending capsule of the Soyuz TMA-09M spaceship commanded by Roscosmos cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin during the landing.

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From left: Roscosmos cosmonaut, commander of the Soyuz MS-07 manned spacecraft, onboard engineer of ISS-54, commander of ISS-55 Anton Shkaplerov, JAXA astronaut, onboard engineer of the Soyuz MS-07 manned spacecraft, ISS-54/55 onboard engineer Norishige Kanai, and NASA astronaut, onboard engineer of the Soyuz MS-07 manned spacecraft, onboard engineer of ISS-54/55 Scott Tingle ahead of the launch of the Soyuz-FG carrier vehicle with the Soyuz MS-07 manned spacecraft from the Baikonur Space Center.

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A Soyuz-FG rocket launches the Soyuz-MS-07 manned spacecraft from the Baikonur Space Center.

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