why april 12th, 1961 is important in mankind's history

a fitting statue (made out of titanium) for the very first human in space.




below: this man is essentially sitting in a tin can strapped to a bomb...with no controls...



















Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, hero of the Soviet Union, was a Soviet cosmonaut who on April 12, 1961 became the first person in space and the first person to orbit the Earth.






when daisy and i were on a kennedy space center tour bus guide a couple of years ago, as the coach was heading out to the launch pad sites the guide asked "can anyone tell me the name of the first american in space" - to which i shouted from the the rear of the vehicle: "yuri gagarin!"

- they weren't going to even mention his name...