Yuri Gagarin, First Man in Space, born March 9, 1934

"Having rounded the Earth in a satellite spaceship, I have seen how beautiful our planet is. Let us preserve and multiply this beauty, not destroy it." - Yuri Gagarin, first man in space, born March 9, 1934.

Yuri Gagarin was a "collective farmer's son who first became a worker, then a pilot, and finally, a cosmonaut". After his famous trip into space on April 12, 1961 Gagarin became an international hero, was a deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and became head of the USSR-Cuba Friendship Society. He was tragically killed on 27 March, 1968 in what was supposed to be a routine training flight.

On April 12th watch for an in depth look at the Soviet space program on The Left Chapter.
(This was published in 2019 at this link: https://theleftchapter.blogspot.com/2019/04/a-look-at-soviet-space-program-on.html )

Below is an article "The Ikarus of the Space Age" which looks at historic journey. It is from Socialism: Theory and Practice Magazine, April 1981.