Cosmonautics Day: the history of the holiday and unusual facts

Cosmonautics Day has traditionally been celebrated on April 12 since 1962. One year ago today, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin made his first flight into space. The famous “Let’s go!” About Of course you know, but at the end of the flight, the first cosmonaut wrote truly heartfelt lines: “While cruising the Earth in a satellite ship, I saw how beautiful our planet was. Folks, we will preserve this beauty, multiply it, not destroy it!” It is not always possible for grandchildren to follow his orders, but we can easily repeat his other habit.

about the holiday

After the flight, Yuri Gagarin suddenly became famous, the English Queen II. He took an audience with Elizabeth and even slightly changed English etiquette. The fact is that after Gagarin had tea, he took a lemon out of the glass and ate it. This confused everyone at the table, but not the queen! She calmly followed her example and is now officially allowed by royal etiquette.

It should be noted that scientists from the USSR began to conquer space as early as 1957. Then the first artificial Earth satellite was launched into low Earth orbit. By the way, the word “satellite” has become international – it sounds the same in all languages ​​​​of the world. If you remember, Ross even wore a “sputnika” suit once on “Friends”. Why don’t you rewatch this episode on Cosmonautics Day? Season 8 Episode 6 Don’t Thank!

Surprisingly, the first person to imagine what our planet looks like from space … Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov! In the poem “I go out alone on the road …” there are lines such as: “Solemn and wonderful in heaven! The world sleeps in the blue October … ”, – this is the appearance of an absolute genius!

Even before the first man was launched into space, there were attempts to launch animals. And Belka and Strelka were not the first to go there (although we strongly recommend that you watch the cartoon of the same name about them today)! In 1957, a dog named Limonchik flew into space. Unfortunately, he could not withstand the pressure drops and died in flight. It is noteworthy that in the news a week after the death of the dog, they reported its condition and mood.

Belka and Strelka became the first dogs to successfully complete the flight. Although the four-legged astronauts are hybrids, that didn’t stop them from presenting the Strelka puppy, named Fluffy, to the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy.

In the 60s, the competition with American scientists in the field of space exploration reached its peak, so the gift was not only pleasant, but also reminded of the Americans who made the first breakthroughs in space exploration.