On April 12, 2023, all the whole progressive world celebrates the anniversary of the first human spaceflight. 62 years ago, a “Russian lad” Yuri Gagarin overcame the force of gravity on the Soviet spaceship Vostok and for the first time in the history of mankind completed his greatest mission – a controlled flight in outer space. An absolutely astonishing process of manned flights to near-Earth orbit was initiated. The dream of our ancestors has become a reality!
For the Soviet Union, of which Russia is the legal successor, the time of the FIRST began. Apart from Yuriy Gagarin the primacy in space exploration belongs to Alexey Leonov, who made the first spacewalk, Valentina Tereshkova, the first female cosmonaut, and other Soviet and Russian space explorers who set world records for the duration and complexity of flights to orbit.
About 600 people from 38 countries have been in space. Thousands of scientific experiments have been carried out, space stations and telescopes have been put into orbit. About 5,000 artificial Earth satellites operate in space at various distances from the surface of the planet. The profession of an astronaut has ceased to be exotic, but has not become less heroic. 228 people died during the preparation for spaceflight and during the flight itself.
The Soviet Union, and then the Russian Federation, initiated many space programs and have always advocated their exclusively peaceful nature. Many countries of the world are taking part in space exploration, and international cooperation in this area has acquired truly cosmic proportions.
But today, when some short-sighted politicians again want to inflate the deadly threat of a nuclear catastrophe for everyone, it would be appropriate to recall the words of the first cosmonaut: “Orbiting Earth in the spaceship, I saw how beautiful our planet is. People, let us preserve and increase this beauty, not destroy it!’’
It is extremely important to make war hawks, sitting all over the world in “white” and other colored buildings, hear these words, understand them correctly and finally realize that the purpose of man on Earth is to LIVE! And if someone takes on the role of a “mighty power”, then make sure that all people on the planet live a wealthy and comfortable life. So that everyone can have access to clean water and high-quality food. So that everyone can study and work for the benefit of our common home – planet Earth!
– Source Russian Embassy
