10 Ruble Russian Coin featuring cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (Photo by Mike)
Today is “Day of the Soviet Space Program (Cosmonautics)” for Russians – a day to remember the cosmonaut and national hero Yuri Gagarin, who on April 12, fifty years ago, was blasted into orbit from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
His famous quote, and a good one to say when you are toasting your Russian friends over some vodkas is “Поехали!” (Paya hellei – Let’s go!).
I would encourage you to check out some video and articles that explore the first orbit by Gagarin and the Soviet/Russian space program – some recommendations follow.
Watch:
“First Orbit” real-time video recreation (uses HD international space station footage and original audio)
http://youtu.be/RKs6ikmrLgg
Read:
Article on Star City (Soviet / Russian Space Program Headquarters) at Russia! Magazine. First link is to web site, second is to actual magazine spreads using the Issue viewer (worthwhile to see some Laika – the space dog – cartoons).
http://readrussia.com/magazine/winter-2008/00044/
http://issuu.com/russiamagazine/docs/russia__magazine
Article on Star City at Wired Magazine
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-09/ff_starcity
