2019-04-12 Fri

The International Day of Human Space Flight is the annual celebration, held on 12th April every year since the year 2011.

On April 12, 1961, the man first saw the Earth from space through the eyes of Jurij Alekseevic Gagarin, a cosmonaut, and Soviet aviator. He started his trip at 9:07 in Moscow, exclaiming the now historic expression “let’s go!” He traveled with the Vostok 1 spacecraft, completing an elliptical orbit around the planet.

The date of April 12th has passed into history and is still celebrated today with the “International Day of Human Space Flight“, established in 2011 by the United Nations, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the flight.

In the Soviet Union, April 12 was commemorated as Cosmonautics Day since 1963 and is still observed in Russia and some former Soviet states. Yuri's Night, also known as "World Space Party" is an international observance initiated in the United States in 2001, on the 40th anniversary of Gagarin's flight.

To honour this day and the contribution of Yuri Gagarin, a number of stamps and coins have been issued by many countries. India, as the participants in this race, has also contributed in many ways and flaunts her own space endeavors.

The stamp given above is issued on 29th September 2000. This Rs5 stamp depicts various space missions of India such as satellites, magalyaan, chandrayaan, rockets as well as an Indian flag on the moon along with an astronaut looking at the earth.

Image Courtesy: https://www.mintageworld.com

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