Cosmonautics Day

Cosmonautics Day День космонавтики Den kosmonavtiki
1965 Soviet postage stamp commemorating Cosmonautics Day
Observed by	Russia, former USSR
Type	Historical
Significance	A celebration to commemorate the first manned earth orbit
Date	April 12
Next time	12 April 2025 (2025-04-12)
Frequency	annual
Related to	Yuri's Night

Cosmonautics Day (Russian: День Космона́втики, Den Kosmonavtiki) is an anniversary celebrated in Russia and some other former USSR countries on April 12. In 2011, April 12 was declared as the International Day of Human Space Flight in dedication of the first manned space flight made on April 12, 1961 by the 27-year-old Russian Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Gagarin circled the Earth for 1 hour and 48 minutes aboard the Vostok 1 spacecraft.

The commemorative day was established in the Soviet Union one year later, on April 9, 1962. In modern Russia, it is celebrated in accordance with Article 1.1 of the Law "On the Days of Military Glory and the Commemorative Dates in Russia".

Gagarin's flight was a triumph for the Soviet space program, and opened a new era in the history of space exploration. Gagarin became a national hero of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc and a famous figure around the world. Major newspapers around the globe published his biography and details of his flight. Moscow and other cities in the USSR held mass demonstrations, the scale of which was second only to WWII Victory Parades. Gagarin was escorted in a long motorcade of high-ranking officials through the streets of Moscow to the Kremlin where, in a lavish ceremony, he was awarded the highest Soviet honour, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, by the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.

Nowadays the commemoration ceremony on Cosmonautics Day starts in the city of Korolyov, near Gagarin's statue. Participants then proceed under police escort to Red Square for a visit to Gagarin's grave in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis, and continue to Cosmonauts Alley, near the Monument to the Conquerors of Space. Finally, the festivities are concluded with a visit to the Novodevichy Cemetery.

In 1968, the 61st conference of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale resolved to celebrate this day as the World Aviation and Astronautics Day.

On April 12, 1981, exactly 20 years after Vostok 1, a Space Shuttle (STS-1, Columbia) was launched for the first orbital flight.

On April 7, 2011 United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring April 12 as the International Day of Human Space Flight.

In the 1960s the song 14 minut do starta ("14 minutes until the launch") written by Oscar Feltsman and Vladimir Voynovich was considered the unofficial "anthem of cosmonautics" and regularly aired on this day in the USSR. In the 1980s it was eclipsed by the hit Trava u doma ("Grass at home") performed by the Russian VIA band Zemlyane ("The Earthlings"). The latter song was awarded the official status of the anthem of Russian Cosmonautics in 2010. Russian cosmonauts have traditionally taken this song with them getting assigned for orbital deployments.

Since 2001, Yuri's Night, also known as the "World’s Space party", is held every April 12 worldwide to commemorate milestones in space exploration.

Gallery

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  Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalyov on his way to lay a flower at the base of Yuri Gagarin's statue in Korolyov on Cosmonautics Day 2002

• Fireworks in Moscow to the 50th Anniversary of spaceflight in 2011