COLORADO SPRINGS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th April, 2019) The flight of the world's first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was a vital step for the humanity to study the universe, Former Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Astronaut Koichi Wakata told Sputnik on Sunday.
"I think it's an important step for humanity to explore the universe that we had never seen before," Wakata said during the annual Yuri's Night celebration at the headquarters of the Space Foundation in the US city of Colorado Springs.
"What Gagarin has shown us is that we are not alone and we should explore to find out the new knowledge and that will benefit the entire humanity," Wakata added.
Wakata spoke following the meet and greet along with the US astronauts during which the guests could get their autographs, take pictures with them and ask any questions.
The Space Foundation's Yuri's Night is part of the global celebration during the month of April recognizing the first manned spaceflight and the first space shuttle flight.
The guests took part in fun interactive activities, such as experience Apollo Virtual Reality lab, underwater drone lab, navigated a rover across Mars' surface, and even danced at the silenced disco.
Yuri's Night, which is a fundraiser for Space Foundation STEM education programs, also included a number of exhibits, presentations, a photo lab and a silent auction.
The event's participants were also enjoying company of robot R2-D2 or Artoo-Detoo, one of the main characters in the original Star War movies as well as taking pictures of the bronze bust of Yuri Gagarin presented by the Russian government to the Space Foundation in 2017 and were exploring the exhibition with space food from different countries, including Russia, Japan and the United States.
"This year, Yuri's Night also celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo program's triumphant achievements, including the historic first mission to land people on the surface of the moon," the website of the event said.
On April 12, 1961, a booster rocket took the Vostok spacecraft into orbit carrying the first person to ever travel to space � Yuri Gagarin. After orbiting the Earth once, the re-entry module landed on the territory of what was then the Soviet Union.
On April 7, 2011, the UN General Assembly proclaimed April 12 as the International Day of Human Space Flight on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's first space flight. The resolution was co-authored by more than 60 UN member states.
