Yuri Gagarin Google Doodle, April 12, 2011: First Space Flight
The April 12, 2011 Google Doodle Is a Tribute To Astronaut Yuri Gagarin.
April 12, 2011 marks the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's first flight into space. As a tribute, Google put up a Google doodle that features a stylized drawing of the late Soviet cosmonaut.
Who is Yuri Gagarin?
Yuri Gagarin was the young pilot who won the equivalent of a reality show to be the USSR's first cosmonaut. Yuri Gagarin, aboard Vostok 1, became the first human in space on April 12, 1961. The space race was underway. Eight years later, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin would walk on the moon.
Sadly, Gagarin and flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin died in a MiG-15UTI crash.
The Yuri Gagarin Google doodle is not the only way people are celebrating Yuri Gagarin's first flight in space. Many cities around the world will celebrate Yuri's Night.