(VOVworld) – The UN Security Council and the international community marked the 53^rd anniversary of International Day of Human Space Flight on April 12th.

A close-up of UNOOSA space applications expert and astronaut Takao Doi aboard Columbia. (Photo: NASA)

On that day in 1961, Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union became the first human to go into space. In Russia, solemn activities were held, remarkably a direct contact on Friday night between President Vladimir Putin and astronauts on the International Space Station. Putin sent best wishes to Russian and international astronauts and praised their present work.
In another development, an exhibition called “Russia’s Space Quest” displaying items about Yuri Gagarin opened in London the same day to mark the event.