Cosmonautics Day in Russia and Kazakhstan
Every year on April 12, the world remembers the first human spaceflight, which was made by Yuri Gagarin in 1961. The Soviet astronaut was the first to see Earth from the outside, staying in orbit for a full 108 minutes.
Cosmonautics Day is a special holiday not only for Russia, but also for Kazakhstan. It was from Kazakhstan, at the Baikonur launch site, that the legendary Vostok rocket was launched. Baikonur became the main site from which Soviet, and later Russian and foreign, spacecraft were launched.
Kazakhstanis have also contributed to the development of outer space. Three Kazakhs have been in orbit and Kazakh cosmonaut Talgat Musabayev is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the man who has been in outer space for more than a day on a single mission.
About 20 launches of space rockets are made annually from the Baikonur launch facilities.
