Today is Cosmonautics Day

On April 12, Kazakhstan celebrates Cosmonautics Day. This is a special holiday for the country. Indeed, it was from the Kazakh land that the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made the first flight into space on April 12, 1961.

“He said,“ Let's go!” and waved his hand ... ". That is how 59 years ago the era of astronautics began and man first flew into space.

Yuri Gagarin on the ship "Vostok" became a space pioneer. This great flight had a duration of 108 minutes. After staying in space, Gagarin successfully landed in the Saratov region, near the city of Engels.

The Baikonur Cosmodrome became the main harbor, from where Soviet, and then Russian and foreign ships went into space navigation.

As a holiday, Cosmonautics Day was established by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the USSR of April 9, 1962, and received international status in 1968 at the conference of the International Aviation Federation.

However, one should not forget about the contribution of Kazakhstanis to space exploration. Kazakhstanis can be proud of their space heroes who have been awarded high ranks and state awards.

In total, three Kazakhs visited space - Toktar Aubakirov, Talgat Musabayev and Aydin Aimbetov.

Toktar Aubakirov is an astronaut of the USSR, the first cosmonaut of Kazakh nationality. Major General of the Air Force of Kazakhstan, People's Hero of Kazakhstan, Hero of the Soviet Union, Honored Test Pilot of the USSR.

On October 2, 1991, he launched into space with Alexander Volkov (crew commander at launch) and the Austrian astronaut Franz Fiebeck as an astronaut - researcher of the Soyuz TM-13 spacecraft. During the week he worked on board the Mir orbital complex. The duration of the stay in space was seven days 22 hours 13 minutes. On October 10, 1991, he returned to Earth with Anatoly Artsebarsky (commander during landing) and the Austrian astronaut Franz Fiebeck aboard the Soyuz TM-12 spacecraft.

Talgat Musabayev was awarded 15 awards and the title of “People's Hero”, a pilot-cosmonaut of Kazakhstan. Hit the Guinness Book of Records. He spent the whole day in outer space.

Since October 22, 1991 - test cosmonaut of the first group. Since July 9, 1999 - group commander, test cosmonaut. Repeatedly included in the backup crews of the Soyuz TM type ships. The total length of Musabaev’s stay in space is 341 days nine hours 48 minutes 41 seconds.

Aydin Aimbetov - Kazakh cosmonaut, the first citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan, who flew into space, 545th cosmonaut of the world. People's Hero of Kazakhstan (2015), Colonel of the Air Force of Kazakhstan.

From September 2 to 12, 2015 he made a space flight as a flight engineer of the Soyuz TMA-18M transport manned spacecraft (TPK) to the International Space Station (ISS). He was a member of the expedition visiting EP-18 on the ISS. He returned to Earth on the Soyuz TMA-16M TPK. The flight duration was nine days 20 hours 13 minutes 51 seconds.

More than 20 rocket launches are launched annually from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, launching satellites, cargo for the ISS and astronauts into orbit.