The Hindu : New Delhi News : Celebrating mankind's first foray into space

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 07, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Celebrating mankind's first foray into space

Staff Reporter

Yuri Gagarin

NEW DELHI: Yuri Gagarin performed the first space flight in the history of mankind aboard the Vostok space vehicle on April 12, 1961. And his eventful life came to a tragic end when his Mig-15 Jet plane crashed during a training flight in 1968.

To commemorate the 45th anniversary of the first space flight of Gagarin, the Information Department of the Russian Embassy and the Indian International Centre (IIC) here have jointly organising a photo exhibition at the IIC Annexe here. The weeklong exhibition is open to the public up to April 12.

The exhibition has candid images of Gagarin exercising and posing with fellow cosmonauts Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, and Sergei Korolyov, who was Head of Rocket Design during the space race with America in the 1950s and '60s. Also on display is a photograph of Gagarin taken when he walked up to greet the media after successfully completing the world's first space flight. There is a section devoted to the Indo-Russian space programme along with images of Jawaharlal Nehru and Krishna Menon alongside Gagarin and Tereshkova. Also displayed are photographs of the Soyuz T-11 mission that carried India's Rakesh Sharma and two Russian cosmonauts in 1984. Photographs of the ceremony conducted after the success of the Soyuz T-11 show a delighted Rajiv Gandhi on stage with the returning cosmonauts. The Indo-Russian scientists involved in the launch of India's first artificial satellite Aryabhatta in 1975 have also been captured on film. Images of the scientists at work are on display as well.

The exhibition has photographs that document the evolution of Russian space vehicles from 1960 to the present day. Images of Veneka 3 (the first probe to reach Venus) and of Lunokhud (the first rover to be put on the moon) are striking as they capture the complexity of design. There are some unique photographs on display as well. One shows the two canines Belka and Strelka upon their safe return from a space flight. Another shows engineers and scientists in the control room of Mir space station.

"There are some wonderful images on display, especially the ones that show collaboration between the two nations. There should be more exhibitions like this so that the people can realise their history," said former Dean of Jawaharlal Nehru University's School of Social Sciences, Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, about the exhibition.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi

News Update

Stories in this Section