Man has always looked to the sky. I imagined distant worlds, talked about the existence of higher beings living somewhere far, far away, came up with hypotheses, legends about creatures from heaven. And only a few decades ago, people for the first time were able to look beyond the horizon.
April 12, 1961 is the day that changed the history of all mankind. It was on this day that the inhabitants of the Earth challenged outer space.
How it all began?
People dreamed about stars for a long time, but the first attempts to reach them began to be made only in 1957, when the first artificial satellite was launched into Earth’s orbit . In November of that year, the dog Laika went into space, it was with her that the study of the effect of weightlessness on living organisms began. True, she was no longer destined to return to her home planet. The experiments with overcoming weightlessness continued with the launch of artificial satellites of the Earth and the Sun, the famous flight of Belka and Strelka, the sending of a rocket to Venus, and establishing communications with objects remote from the Earth. Colossal work was carried out, huge amounts of money were invested in the development of a new science - astronautics, and the result for all of humanity, who had not been particularly interested in conquering extraterrestrial space, was April 12, 1961 - the first man went into space that day.
Yuri Gagarin
Once Yuri Gagarin could not imagine that he would turn from a simple caster (namely, this specialty after school and institute) into the first cosmonaut in the world. His fate was changed by the army, where he served in aviation. After demobilization, Gagarin decided to become a test pilot of new flying equipment - that is exactly what the Soviet Union (unofficially, of course) called spaceships. And a year later, preparations began for the first manned space flight. Future astronauts underwent serious medical examinations, trained on the most modern devices of the time, allowing them to adapt to the conditions of weightlessness as much as possible. Four days before the fateful event, Yuri Gagarin was appointed the pilot of the "East". On April 12, the first ship with a man on board was launched from Baikonur.
Unforeseen difficulties
But the flight itself did not end quite as planned. Gagarin was in space for a little over an hour, everything was going well, the astronaut was constantly reporting on his condition and the ship, but then for some reason the braking system failed. As a result, the Vostok landed not in a certain place when preparing for the flight, but in a small village in the Saratov Region - April 12th was clearly a very memorable date for it. Today, by the way, there is the Yuri Gagarin Museum, where you can learn more about the astronaut himself and about the flight that is crucial for the whole Earth.
Holiday Establishment
On the same day, the whole world heard about a breakthrough in the field of astronautics. Naturally, America immediately tried to repeat Gagarin’s feat. But still, the first word in space exploration remained with the USSR. April 12, 1962 was the day of remembrance of the feat of Yuri Gagarin. And after some six years, since 1968, they began to celebrate World Cosmonautics Day. More than one flight of a person beyond the limits of the earth's atmosphere was not awarded such honors, even the famous landing on the moon of Neil Armstrong.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, no one dared to raise the question of the abolition of this celebration. In 1995, the Russian government officially approved the holiday on April 12. Since 2001, on the world stage, it has become known as International Day of Human Space Flight.
How is Cosmonautics Day celebrated?
It is difficult to talk about any specific traditions of the celebration of April 12th. Of course, various events are held in schools dedicated not only to the first manned flight into space, but also to the development of astronautics in general. Various public organizations organize round tables, debates and many other discussion options for young people, where you can not only learn more about the history of the holiday, but also discuss trends in the development of science in this direction. April 12, Cosmonautics Day, is a great opportunity to chat with those who are really interested in space exploration and can tell a lot of new and sometimes completely unexpected things.
One of the good ideas for celebrating Cosmonautics Day at school is an open event, in which not only Yuri Gagarin’s flight and preparations for it are told, but also a long way to creating the first rocket, space-related hypotheses, and the evolution of human knowledge about the environment world and much, much more. Some teachers undeservingly forget that the result is not always important, the path to it is sometimes much more exciting than the dry facts. Moreover, in no case should one belittle the merits of scientists, without which the development of astronautics, in principle, would not have been possible.
Conclusion
It is difficult to compare April 12 with such large-scale holidays as New Year, Children's Day, AIDS Day, celebrated by the whole world. Many will not even remember right away when the first man went into space. But the development of extraterrestrial space has given, gives and will give mankind much more. While we simply do not represent all the possibilities that will open up to us in further research. Perhaps today the dreams of the colonization of Mars sound utopian, but a hundred years ago no one could have imagined that people would be able to leave Earth. Everything is ahead. And in no case should we forget that April 12 is Cosmonautics Day, the day when a person defied the Universe.