Russia is celebrating Cosmonautics Day on 12 April, which was established in 1962 to commemorate the first manned space flight. The UN General Assembly also proclaimed 12 April as the International Day of Human Space Flight on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's inaugural trip to space. The resolution was co-authored by more than 60 UN member states.
1 / 18
Chief Designer Sergei Korolev (right) says last parting words to Yuri Gagarin before launch.
© Sputnik / A. Sverdlov
2 / 18
Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin prior to the flight to space. A shot from the documentary film "The First Flight to the Stars", directed by Igor Gostev.
© Sputnik
3 / 18
Yuri Gagarin in the cockpit before the flight into space.
© Sputnik
4 / 18
Chief Designer of the first rocket and space systems Academician Sergei Korolev at the Baikonur Cosmodrome during the launch of the first cosmonaut.
© Sputnik
5 / 18
Yuri Gagarin in the cabin of the spaceship "Vostok" before his flight into space on 12 April 1961.
© Sputnik
6 / 18
The launch of the Vostok carrier rocket with the Vostok-1 spacecraft, with USSR pilot-cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on board - the first man in history to fly into space.
© Sputnik
7 / 18
Medical students at a demonstration in honour of the flight of Yuri Gagarin into space.
© Sputnik / Mikhail Ozerskiy
/ 8 / 18
USSR pilot-cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin after landing. Saratov region, April, 1961.
© Aleksandr Sergeev
9 / 18
USSR Pilot-Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin with a bouquet of daisies.
© Sputnik / Yuryi Abramochkin
/ 10 / 18
Yuri Gagarin with his wife, Valentina, and daughter, Galina, on vacation in Crimea.
© Sputnik / I. Snegirev
/ 11 / 18
Yuri Gagarin with his daughters Elena (left) and Galina (right).
© Sputnik / Alexander Mokletsov
/ 12 / 18
Pilot-cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin holding a dove given to him by Bulgarian pioneers.
© Sputnik / Pavel Barashev
/ 13 / 18
Academician Sergei Korolev (right) and cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (left) after the world's first manned space flight on the Vostok spacecraft.
© Sputnik / Sergeev
/ 14 / 18
Pilot-cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin doing his morning exercises.
© Sputnik / I. Snegirev
/ 15 / 18
(From left to right) Pavel Popovich, German Titov, Andriyan Nikolaev, Yuri Gagarin, Valentina Tereshkova, Nikita Khrushchev, and Valery Bykovsky on the platform of the Lenin Mausoleum during a demonstration after the space flight on the Vostok-5 and Vostok-6 spacecraft.
© Sputnik / Vasiliy Malyshev
/ 16 / 18
The first cosmonaut in the world, Hero of the Soviet Union, Yuri Gagarin.
© Sputnik / Yuriy Abramochkin
/ 17 / 18
Pilot-cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin speaks to workers of a Leningrad metal plant.
© Sputnik
/ 18 / 18
Pilot-cosmonaut Gagarin walking down the red carpet to a government platform during a solemn gathering at Vnukovo Airport in Moscow.
© Sputnik / Chernov
/