Moscow, April 13: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev today hailed Yuri Gagarin’s flight into space 50 years ago as a symbolic, revolutionary event, saying Russia still dreams about “conquering” other planets and flying to distant stars.
“I believe it was a truly revolutionary event, a highly symbolic one. It was a tremendous achievement of Soviet cosmonautics, which divided the world into ‘before’ and ‘after the flight,’ what has been termed the ‘space era,” Medevdev said in an interview to China Central Television CCTV.
“I am proud of the fact that it was my country that made this first step,” he said.
Referring to the future space programmes, Mr Medvedev said although they have become less idealistic and more pragmatic, the Russian space dream lives on.
“We still cherish a hope, however, that sometime we will be able to conquer other planets, other stellar systems,” he said.
“I don’t know how soon we will be able to achieve that, but I think that mankind will always try to follow these two approaches simultaneously, on one hand – the dream of exploring outer space and on the other hand- a truly pragmatic approach to outer space, which may bring both scientific and practical benefits,” Mr Medvedev said.
The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution at a special session on April 7 declaring April 12 the International Day of Human Space Flight.
The resolution was initiated by Russia, which celebrates Cosmonaut Day on April 12, dedicated to the historic first manned flight to space by Russia’s Yuri Gagarin in 1961.
On April 12, 1961, Gagarin blasted into the cosomos aboard the Vostok-1 spacecraft, orbiting Earth in 108 minutes and landing safely near Smelovka village in the Saratov Region’s Ternovsky District.
Source: Facenfacts.com