International Day of Human Space Flight
Next: April 12, 2027
One orbit that opened the sky.
The story
Where it comes from
On 12 April 1961 the Soviet pilot Yuri Gagarin lifted off from Baikonur aboard Vostok 1 and became the first human in space. His single orbit of Earth took 108 minutes from launch to landing, and at the end he ejected from the capsule 7 km above the ground and came down under his own parachute. Fifty years later, on 7 April 2011, the UN General Assembly declared 12 April the International Day of Human Space Flight, to celebrate the beginning of the space era for humankind and the peaceful use of outer space.
How it's celebrated
Space agencies, planetariums, museums and schools hold talks, stargazing nights and exhibitions. Since 12 April 2001 the grassroots celebration Yuri's Night has invited anyone to host a space party, from a science-centre event to a few friends gathered under the sky. At home, it is a good evening to look up when the International Space Station passes overhead, or to tell a child how short the first trip to space was.
Did you know
- Twenty years to the day after Gagarin's flight, on 12 April 1981, NASA launched the space shuttle Columbia on its first mission.
- Room inside the Vostok capsule was tight, which helped the short Gagarin, 1.57 metres tall, win his place on the first flight.
- Malaysia's first astronaut, the surgeon Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, flew to the International Space Station on 10 October 2007 and became the first Muslim to observe Ramadan in space.
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