12 April - Thursday

World Aviation and Cosmonautics Day (International Human Space Flight Day)
April 12 the whole world celebrates the Day of Aviation and Cosmonautics - a memorable date dedicated to the first flight of man into space. This is a special day - the day of the triumph of science and all those who are currently working in the space industry. As a holiday - the Day of Cosmonautics - in our country it was established by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on April 9, 1962, and received international status in 1968 at a conference of the International Aviation Federation.
By the way, since 2011 it carries one more name - the International Day of Human Space Flight (International Day of Human Space Flight). On April 7, 2011, at the special plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly, at the initiative of Russia, the official resolution No. A / RES / 65/271 was adopted on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the first step in the exploration of outer space. More than 60 states have become co-sponsors of this resolution.
On April 12, 1961, a citizen of the Soviet Union, Senior Lieutenant Yu.A. Gagarin on the spacecraft Vostok for the first time in the world made an orbital flight around the Earth, opening the era of manned spaceflight.
The flight, which lasted only 108 minutes, became a powerful breakthrough in the exploration of outer space. The name of Yuri Gagarin became widely known in the world, and the very first cosmonaut received the title of major and the title of Hero of the Soviet Union ahead of schedule.
As you know, before the man sat in the spacecraft, four-legged friends of the man were sent to the flight. In August 1960, the Soviet space ship Vostok with the dogs Belka and Strelka on board made a daily flight with a return to Earth.
The first international flight in the history of cosmonautics took place on July 15, 1975 - the pioneers were the Soviet ship Soyuz-19 and the American ship Apollo.
Entering the 21st century, we see astonishing advances in space technology - tens of thousands of satellites are turning around the earth, spacecraft have landed on the moon, bringing out soil samples. Subsequently, automatic probes dropped to Mars and Venus, several spacecraft left the solar system and carried messages to the Extraterrestrial Civilizations.
Therefore, proclaiming this holiday - the International Day of Human Spaceflight - the UN General Assembly expressed its deep conviction "in the common interest of mankind in promoting the exploration and use of outer space, which is the property of all mankind, for peaceful purposes, in scaling up this activity and in continuing efforts to to enable all States to benefit from the benefits. "
And the holiday itself was recommended to be celebrated at the international level every year on 12 April to commemorate the beginning of the space age for humanity, Reaffirming the important contribution of space science and technology to the achievement of sustainable development and the welfare of nations and peoples, and to ensuring the realization of their desire to preserve outer space for peaceful purposes.
And today, April 12 in honor of the holiday in different countries are all kinds of events - exhibitions, conferences, educational and educational lectures and seminars, film screenings and much more. For example, in Russia the main Cosmonautics Museum is preparing special projects, many Russian educational institutions and planetariums hold exhibitions and actions, public organizations organize solemn rallies and other events dedicated to this Day. After all, this is a common holiday, connecting the past, present and future of the people of the Earth.
By the way, in October the World Space Week is annually held, dedicated to another significant event: on October 4, 1957, the world's first artificial Earth satellite was launched into the near-Earth orbit.

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