On April 12, 1961, 27 year old Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. Celebrated in Russia and other nations, this holiday commemorates his 1 hour 48 minute flight aboard a Vostok (meaning east [no clue why. Anyone have any idea?]) 1 spacecraft. The image is a 1965 postage stamp commemorating Costmonautics Day.
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
— John Gillespie Magee, Jr
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