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Russia Commemorates Gagarin's Exploit
President Vladimir Putin vowed to support Russia's ailing space sector on Thursday, as he swapped gifts with cosmonauts feting the 40th anniversary of the mission that made cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin the first man in space.
Four decades on, Russians remain fiercely proud of Gagarin's 108-minute dash around the globe on April 12, 1961, a feat that stunned the United States and ignited a space race between the two nuclear superpowers to be the first to the moon.
"We are rightfully proud of this gigantic scientific and technological breakthrough made by our country," Putin said in greetings to space officials.
On a visit to Star City, the town outside Moscow housing the cosmonaut training center and many in Russia's space program, Putin hailed Gagarin's feat as a "victory for all of humanity".
"Today we say that (the flight) was our own national victory, but truly it was a significant step for all of humanity," he said in comments broadcast on television.
Putin presented Star City officials with one of three paintings that Gagarin sat for after his flight and said that efforts in space helped support all of Russia's industries.
And he promised cosmonauts, who gave him a watch commemorating Gagarin's flight, that he would do all he could to see Russia's space program regain some of its lost glory.
Putin also talked privately with Gagarin's reclusive widow Valentina and their two daughters. It was the first time in over a decade that they had been met by a top government official.
Celebrations to commemorate Gagarin's exploit were scheduled in 69 cities across the globe, including the home town that now bears his name some 180 kilometers (110 miles) west of Moscow.
Russian space agency head Yuri Koptev joined cosmonauts, including French cosmonaut Claudie Andre-Deshays, in a wreath-laying ceremony at Gagarin's grave in the Kremlin wall.
A mysterious plane crash in 1968 cut short his life at 34.
Gagarin's feat transformed a humble farm boy into a 20th century icon, whose manly good looks and quick wit smashed Western stereotypes of gray, lumbering Soviets.
It also made the Soviet Union a technological force to be reckoned with.
Within a month, U.S. President John F. Kennedy was vowing to land a man on the moon "before the decade is out".
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