It was April 12, 1961. Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, aboard a spacecraft called Swallow, became the first man in space and rocketed the Soviet space program into the history books. Aboard Vostok-1, Gagarin radioed from above the Earth, “My spirits are high. The machine is functioning normally.”
New Mexico Museum of Space History Museum Executive Director Chris Orwoll will present First in Space: Yuri Gagarin and 50 Years of Russian Spaceflight as the April Launch Pad Lecture, this Friday April 4 at 9:00 am on the Museum’s first floor. Learn about the Soviet/Russian space program, how a factory worker became the first man in space, and the effect that had on the Soviet and American space programs.
The Launch Pad Lecture is free to the public. Coffee and donuts are compliments of the International Space Hall of Fame Foundation. The next lecture will be on Friday, May 2, and the topic will be When Hollywood Gets It Wrong: Bloopers on the Big Screen. The speakers will be Museum Education Director Dave Dooling and Education Specialist Michael Shinabery.
The New Mexico Museum of Space History is a division of the NM Department of Cultural Affairs. For more information, call 575-437-2840 or toll free 1-877-333-6589 or visit the website at www.nmspacemuseum.org.