“Visit Gagarin”: the Most Creative Anniversary Projects

“After Kiev the puzzle is expected to be taken to 22 regional centers of Ukraine where there is a street named after Gagarin, and later to Russia. Currently, there are negotiations with the city authorities on the placement of the image. After that the puzzle will remain in Zaporozhie, to attract the Euro 2012 tourists.”

Vladimir Rogov, Chairman of the International St. George Union of Young People

“Nowhere in Russia there is anything like our museum & exhibition center “Cosmic Samara.” It displays not only the chronicle of the Russian space exploration but the huge contribution which people of Samara made to the development of this industry. This famous carrier rocket Soyuz is the symbol of their labor. I am sure that the new sculpture image will take a commendable place among the sights of our region.”

Vladimir Artyakov, Governor of Samara oblast 

The name of the CPRF action and one of its slogans 

“The purpose of this action is to remind the Belgians about the role of Russia in space exploration on the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s flight and emphasize the importance of space cooperation between Russia and Belgium and Russia and EU.”

Sergey Petrosov, Executive Secretary of Belgian Federation of Russian-Speaking Organizations 

“The innovative model of this school is targeted at the development of a new generation that has a planetary level of thinking, is capable of achieving social, economic and environmental harmony in the society, and can preserve and disseminate common human values in the globalization environment.”

“The following items have been donated and delivered to Saratov free of charge: two individual cosmonaut cradles (spacemen chairs); body boat Neva-KB; “Penguin” cosmonaut loading suit; “Forel” hydrosuit; and the main object of this collection — the body of “Foton” descent module which was provided by the Central Design Bureau “Progress” (Samara). In early April these items will be displayed at the landing site and will later be returned to the museums.”

News service of Saratov oblast ministry of culture

Tour “You Live in Smolensk Region – Visit Gagarin!”
The tour is a part of the long-term regional targeted program “Celebration of the 50^th Anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s Space Flight” for 2010-2011. The tour is implemented in partnership with the government of Kaluga oblast which is the home region of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (the forefather of astronautics). The tour agenda was published in the local newspaper:

• A visit to the first cosmonaut’s bronze bust in Smolensk;
• A bus tour to Gagarin, capital town of the district where the first cosmonaut spent his childhood; the guide will tell visitors about cosmonauts, pilots and scientists who were born in Smolensk oblast;
• Visits to local museums. The memorial museum of Gagarin displays the interior of his “childhood house” as it was in 1949. A statue of mother waiting for the son is placed in the yard, and there is an inconspicuous plate in the garden, “Lilac planted by Yuri Gagarin – you can feel the touch of the first cosmonaut’s hands through this plant.” A precise copy of “father’s house” was reconstructed in the house museum of the Gagarins family in Klushino village in 1971 (based on the reminiscences of his family members). There is also a restored dugout in which the Gagarins lived during the Nazi occupation, and their water well (now known as the “Gagarin Well”) has been preserved intact since the 1930s;
• Visits to two museums that are not directly related to Gagarin, i.e. an art gallery (displaying paintings dedicated to space exploration) and a local studies museum;

“A visit to Gagarin’s home is worthwhile not for school and college students alone but for older people as well – those seasoned with their life experiences and their own reminiscences about the early days of the space era. Yuri Alexeyevich was such a bright person that his museum has a purifying effect on the soul.”

Sergey Mukhanov, Smolenskaya Gazeta

“Yuri Gagarin, the first cosmonaut on the planet, took his on-the-job training here at Vulkan Plant.”

 Legend on the plaque

“Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin, the first man who made a space flight, is known to most of us as a vague image in a metal helmet. We who live in the world outside Russia ha s vague idea of what happened to him after his historical flight.”

 Authors: Andrew King, Piers Bizony and Peter Hodkinson 

“I like to dream. And when there is a chance to look up into the skies, I love to look into the night sky.”

 Alina Savinova, student of Samara State Institute of Architecture and Construction, participant in the action