First Man In Space. April 12, 1961.

[december]

Cosmonautics Day

On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yury Gagarin orbited the Earth for the first time in a Vostok spacecraft.

Yury Gagarin, the first man in space, in 1961.

http://img.rian.ru/images/3965/41/39654100.jpg

http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/history/astronauts/gagarin.jpg

http://img.rian.ru/images/3965/41/39654106.jpg

Launching the Vostok-1 spacecraft.

http://www.vor.ru/Space_now/First_in_space/Gagarin11.JPG

yuri gagarin flight video - YouTube

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/08/1st.draft/time.gagarin.jpg

[pollock]

Bah

[december]

Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (Russian: Валенти́на Влади́мировна Терешко́ва; born 6 March 1937), is a retired Soviet cosmonaut and was the first woman to fly in space, aboard Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Tereshkova.jpg

She was born in Bolshoye Maslennikovo, a small village in the Yaroslavl Oblast. After school she worked in a textile factory, and then studied engineering. She also trained in parachuting at the local Aeroclub, making her first jump at age 22 on 21 May 1959.

http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00160/images/tereshkova1.jpg

http://www.wiedenhoff.nu/space/or030p4.jpg

Vostok 6 spacecraft in which the first woman cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova, orbited the Earth for three days. Vostok 6 was launched June 16, 1963.

[pollock]

Laika (from Russian: Лайка, a breed of dog, literally: "Barker") was a Russian space dog who became the first living creature from Earth to enter orbit.
At one time a stray wandering the streets of Moscow, she was selected from an animal shelter.
Originally named Kudryavka, she was renamed Laika after her breed type. After undergoing training with two other dogs, she was selected to be the occupant of the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2 and was launched into space on 3 November 1957.

http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/00179/images/LaikaRussianDogRSA.jpg

Laika died a few hours after launch from stress and overheating, probably due to a malfunction in the thermal control system. The true cause of her death was not made public until decades after the flight. Some former Soviet scientists have since expressed regret that Laika was allowed to die.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c9/Laika.jpg

The dog that would later be named Laika was found as a stray wandering the streets of Moscow.
She was a mongrel female, approximately three years old, and weighed about 6 kg (13 lb). Soviet personnel gave her several names and nicknames, among them Kudryavka (Russian for Little Curly), Zhuchka (Little Bug) and Limonchik (Little Lemon).
Laika, the Russian name for several breeds of dogs similar to the husky, was the name popularized around the world. The American press dubbed her Muttnik (mutt + suffix -nik) as a pun on Sputnik, or referred to her as Curly. Her true pedigree is unknown, although it is generally accepted that she was part husky or other Nordic breed, and possibly part terrier.

http://www.videocosmos.com/images/laika.jpg

RIP