Well 44 years ago on this day humanity sent our first voyager to space, Major Yuri Gagarin of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The event escalated the space race to a new level and led to the first humans on the Moon in 1969. To commemorate the event a group of space enthusiasts created Yuri's Night several years. Each year on this day they gather at parties around the world to celebrate the event and the continuing exploration of space.
The Soviet news agency TASS released the following announcement of the event as it happened.
On April 12, 1961, the world's first manned spaceship-sputnik Vostok (East) was launched in the Soviet Union into orbit around the earth.The pilot and astronaut of the orbital spaceship Vostok is Major Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin of the Air Force, a citizen of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
The launching of the multi-stage space rocket was successful. After attaining orbital velocity and separating from the last stage of the carrier rocket, the spaceship swung into free flight around the earth.
According to preliminary estimates, its orbital period is 89.1 minutes. The orbit's perigee is 175 km, the apogee 302 km; the orbital plane is inclined at 65° 4' to the equatorial plane.
The spaceship together with the astronaut weighs a total of 4,725 kg, exclusive of the weight of the carrier rocket's final stage.
Two-way radio communication has been established and is being maintained with Comrade Gagarin, the astronaut. The ship-borne shortwave transmitters operate on 9.019 and 20.006 mc/sec and in the ultra-shortwave range on 143.625 mc/sec. Radiotelemtry and TV observations of the state of the astronaut in flight are being conducted.
Comrade Gagarin, the astronaut, withstood satisfactorily the takeoff and injection into orbit and is now feeling well. The life-supporting systems in the cabin of the spaceship are functioning normally.
The spaceship Vostok, carrying the astronaut Comrade Gagarin, continues in orbit.
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