Cosmonautics Day

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  Cosmonautics Day falls on the 12th of April in Russia and several other post-Soviet states. On that date in 1961, a 27-year-old Soviet cosmonaut named Yuri Gagarin left the ground for the first time. He orbited the Earth for 1 hour and 48 minutes aboard the Vostok 1 spacecraft. That single flight reshaped how a nation marked its calendar. What happened when Gagarin came back to Earth, and how far did that one day eventually reach?

• 2. A Hero's Welcome

  ›

  News outlets across the world ran profiles of Gagarin, recounting his background and the particulars of the mission. Soviet officials treated the flight as proof that their space program had entered a new era of exploration. Across the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, Gagarin was hailed as a hero, and his renown spread worldwide.

  Demonstrations swept through Moscow and other Soviet cities on a scale rivaled only by the nation's World War II victory parades. Officials placed Gagarin inside a lengthy procession of dignitaries that moved from Moscow's streets toward the Kremlin. Inside its walls, Nikita Khrushchev handed him the Hero of the Soviet Union, the state's top honor, at a grand ceremony.

  The spectacle in Moscow was overwhelming, yet the day itself still had no official standing in Soviet law.

• 3. A Day Written Into Law

  ›

  On the 9th of April 1962, the Soviet Union formally established the commemorative day, one year after Gagarin's flight. Modern Russia continues the observance under Article 1.1 of the law "On the Days of Military Glory and the Commemorative Dates in Russia."

  Each spring the commemoration opens in Korolyov, where a statue honors Gagarin. Police then guide participants toward Red Square so they can pay respects at Gagarin's grave within the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. The group moves next to Cosmonauts Alley, close to the Monument to the Conquerors of Space, before the day winds down at Novodevichy Cemetery.

  The route past monuments and graves says nothing about the sound that once defined the day on Soviet radio.

• 4. Songs Of The Cosmonauts

  ›

  During the 1960s, "14 Minutes Until Start," written by Oscar Feltsman and Vladimir Voynovich, served as the unofficial anthem of cosmonautics. Soviet radio aired it regularly on this day, and a marching version later became a staple of Russian Space Forces parades.

  By the 1980s, "Grass by the Home," performed by the band Zemlyane, or "The Earthlings," had eclipsed it in popularity. In 2009 it was formally named the official anthem of Russian Cosmonautics, and Russian cosmonauts have traditionally carried it with them into orbit.

  By the time that song earned its title, international aviation bodies had already claimed the 12th of April as more than a Russian affair.

• 5. A Global Echo

  ›

  In 1968, delegates at the 61st conference of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale voted to designate the date World Aviation and Astronautics Day. That decision carried the date beyond Soviet borders for the first time.

  On the 12th of April 1981, twenty years after Vostok 1, the Space Shuttle Columbia launched on the STS-1 mission, its first orbital flight. The overlap was a coincidence. The Columbia launch had been delayed by two days, landing it on the same date by chance.

  On the 7th of April 2011, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution in its 65th session. It declared the 12th of April the International Day of Human Space Flight in honor of Gagarin's flight.

  Since 2001, an event called Yuri's Night has been held every the 12th of April in locations around the world. Billed as the "World's Space Party," it marks milestones in space exploration.

  On the 12th of April 2017, the United Nations marked the International Day of Human Space Flight for the 56th anniversary of Gagarin's orbit. That anniversary guarantees the 12th of April returns to the world stage year after year, carried forward by a resolution that outlives the flight itself.