Russia celebrated Cosmonautics Day, and the whole world — the International Day of Human Space Flight. Exactly 56 years ago, Yuri Gagarin said his famous "Let's Go!" and made the first ever space flight. He became a hero not only for his country, but for all mankind.

Vladimir Putin said that being an astronaut is heroic work. The President met with those legendary people who stood at the origins of space exploration. Tonight, he promised that in the next 10 years, Russia will make breakthrough developments in the sphere of space exploration. Dmitry Petrov will tell you about where we have already flown and where else we will fly.

Space industry veterans and those who are now continuing their venture gathered in the State Kremlin Palace. Designers, engineers, and, of course, cosmonauts. Real heroes from the very first Gagarin team: Alexey Leonov, Boris Volynov, Valentina Tereshkova. The President congratulated them with the professional holiday, which has long become a holiday for all Russians. Our first satellite, interplanetary stations, the first space flight, the first woman-cosmonaut, the first spacewalk are forever in history. Your selfless, heroic work is a true manifestation of patriotism and true love for the Motherland. Those who work in the space industry today are continuing your venture with dignity and are striving for leadership. Being strong is in our blood. I wish you a good flight! Let’s go!

The dawn of April 12, 1961. The moments that changed history. Only 108 minutes. One loop around the planet. But this event gave hope to millions on Earth. A regular country boy with a wide smile flew up without looking down. And carried away all mankind. Not even the closest relatives knew about what he was preparing for. During the break, the class teacher said: "Tamara, you uncle is a pilot, isn’t he?" I said: "Yes". "Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin". "Yes". "Did you know that he's in space?" I don’t know, it was so scary, you can’t imagine.

Titov, Nikolayev, Popovich, Bykovsky, Tereshkova. All of them were more than heroes. Soviet space science set such a pace that it was impossible to keep up. The first spacewalk was also ours. Alexey Leonov. March 1965. This story was recreated in detail by cinematographers. Everyone can now understand and feel how it was to be "The Spacewalker".





The night before, the President watched this film. The movie, which was released two weeks ago, is based on real events. The plot is based on the memories of the famous cosmonaut, Alexey Leonov. He was also the chief consultant of the film. By the way, many of the facts that are to be discovered by the audience have been kept secret for half a century.

What happened with the device itself? Was it somehow damaged? There was a micron crack through which air depressurized. This film shows this tension. When we received a call, we couldn't do anything, because we didn't feel anything. No one has ever filmed zero gravity, no one in the world, in such a limited space. I will give a small remark to Yevgeny. If you fall out of the plane like this, in parachuting it's called "counting rivets". I didn’t know. Yes, you need to push off, otherwise you'll be hit by the plane's side. Absolutely, right. We're showing... what's that special about being a cosmonaut? He is put in a spaceship and flown. But the film says that this is hard work. Heroic work. Well, everything connected with the beginning of the space age of mankind is stored in the museum of Energia Rocket and Space Corporation. And, of course, the descent vehicle of the very first spacecraft, Vostok, is exhibited here. The one in which Gagarin went into space. There is a red path to it.

Yuri Silayev can rightfully be called the curator of the museum. He remembers in detail the first meeting with the astronauts, when Korolev led them to the plant to get acquainted with the rocket. Did you know then? We didn’t know. Who did you think would fly first? Well, who do you think? Sergei Pavlovich took Gagarin's hand like this... He led him to the step-ladder. He rolled up his sleeves, put on the work boots and climbed up. Now we hold strong positions in manned space exploration. In the next decade, breakthrough developments, new types of rockets and new manned spacecraft will be created. International cooperation in Mars exploration will continue. In general, the Russian space program should become a powerful stimulus for the development of technologies throughout the country's science.