April 12 is 55th anniversary of first man in orbit

[Newpossum]

Tomorrow, the 12th of April, will be the 55th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's historic flight into orbit.

On that day in 1961, he "slipped the surly bonds of earth" in the truest sense possible, and joined the pantheon of immortal heroes of mankind. Like Achilles, he will be remembered as long as men and women walk this earth, and perhaps beyond. And, in the true style of heroes, when his life came to an end seven years later, he died the death of Icarus, in the cockpit with the stick in his hand. Which certainly beats dying in an old folks home with a tube up your nose, wrinkled, forgotten and smelling of urine.

Edited April 11, 2016 by Vanamonde
Watch the language, please.

[AlamoVampire]

It's stunning how far we have come since that day! I wonder how far we will have gone at the 100th anniversary of his flight?

[RW-1]

It was also, in 1981 the date Columbia Launched on STS-1 ....  Just sayin ... That could give you a nice time comparison down to the day 20 years later....

[Vanamonde]

But it wasn't done in KSP. And so, moved. 

[Newpossum]

umm, sorry

Edited April 11, 2016 by Newpossum

[EmperorDragon]

I must admit, it is rather strange how quietly this day passed by.

One would expect the anniversary of the first manned spaceflight to hold more significance among spaceflight enthusiasts as grand as the KSP community, devs and fans alike.

Not to mention also being the date of the first reusable spacecraft launch (STS-1).

[Morse]

I spent the last 10 minutes just searching for any mention of this date. So, so quiet. Here's some nice thing I recently found:

 

[Dispatcher]

He was a pioneer for sure.  A lot of people made it possible for Yuri to fly into space, but he's the one that took the ride into the relative unknown.