Astronauts celebrate 60 years of human spaceflight as Russia signs treaty to ban weapons in space
In commemoration of the 2021 International Day of Human Space Flight, astronauts are celebrating the anniversary of the first Soviet cosmonaut’s flight which marked the beginning of the space era.
Monday, April 12 marks two major space anniversaries: 60 years since the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space (April 12, 1961) and 40 years since the first space shuttle flight (April 12, 1981).
Yuri’s Night, an annual event co-created by author and spaceflight advocate Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides and Chief Space Officer of Virgin Galactic George Whitesides that celebrates human spaceflight, will also be celebrating its 20th anniversary with this year’s Global Livestream event.
This year, Yuri’s Night is virtual with a global event with the theme of “Earthseed,” a reference to the book “Parable of the Sower” by sci-fi writer Octavia E. Butler. NASA recently named the Perseverance rover’s touchdown site “Octavia E. Butler Landing” after the author.
“The book shares a powerful vision for a spiritual path that can bring communities together during hard times and inspire them with a vision of bringing life to the stars,” the Yuri’s Night team said in a statement emailed to Space.com. “That vision seemed fitting this year,” Loretta Whitesides said in the statement.
As it’s a virtual event, Yuri’s Night 2021 will be available for all around the world to attend online. You can watch the event live here on Space.com and on YouTube and find more information about the event at the Yuri’s Night website. The event will begin at 7 p.m. EDT (2300 GMT).
Meanwhile, Russia has also called for talks to create a legally binding international instrument that would ban the deployment of any type of weapons in space, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s historic space flight.
“We consistently believe that only guaranteed prevention of an arms race in space will make it possible to use it for creative purposes, for the benefit of the entire mankind. We call for negotiations on the development of an international legally binding instrument that would prohibit the deployment of any types of weapons there, as well as the use of force or the threat of force,” Lavrov said in a video message on the anniversary of the first manned space flight.
The minister offered to take as a basis a relevant Russian-Chinese draft treaty submitted to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva in 2014.
To stabilize the situation during a period when a multilateral document on non-militarization of space is being developed, Lavrov invited countries to join a Russian-promoted multilateral initiative on making a political commitment not to be the first to place weapons in outer space.
The top Russian diplomat noted that some 30 countries have become full-fledged participants in the initiative.
Lavrov also emphasized that space cooperation should remain one of the most important aspects of the international agenda.
“Over the past decades, Russia, as a leader in space exploration, has provided assistance to a number of
In 2011, the UN General Assembly declared April 12 as the International Day of Human Space Flight
Nature reports that the International Day of Human Space Flight is the annual celebration, held on 12 April, of the anniversary of the first human space flight by Yuri Gagarin (USSR).
Yuri Gagarin crewed the Vostok 1 mission in 1961, completing one orbit around Earth over 108 minutes in the Vostok 3KA spacecraft, launched on a Vostok-K rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, USSR.
In the Soviet Union, 12 April 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.
Also commemorated on this date is the first Space Shuttle launch, STS-1 of Columbia on 12 April 1981, exactly 20 years after the first human spaceflight.
