The International Day of Human Space Flight is celebrated annually on April 12. It was on this day, April 12, 1961, that Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth for the first time in the history of mankind, opening the era of manned space flights and the way for the exploration of outer space.
Gagarin's flight lasted 108 minutes. Having circled the planet once, the cosmonaut received a command from Earth to descend. The descent vehicle landed in the steppe near Saratov. At an altitude of several kilometers, Yuri Gagarin ejected and made a soft landing via parachute.
The first cosmonaut of the planet was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on April 14, 1961.
In honor of the historical event in April 1962, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR established a holiday - the Day of Cosmonautics - by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In 1968 it received international status and was renamed World Day of Aviation and Astronautics. On April 7, 2011, in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of human space flight, the UN General Assembly proclaimed April 12 the International Day of Human Space Flight by its resolution.
Since the early days of space exploration, Belarus has not been left behind. The first space-related developments in the Republic date back to the early 1960s. Scientific institutes and industrial enterprises were developing and creating the latest optical devices, ground-based launch control systems, and the most advanced spacecrafts.
