Festival Poehali, a seven-day-long event marking the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s space flight, has started in the city under the aegis of the Russian House (Russian Cultural Centre) here.
Poehali is Russian for Let’s Go. In 1961, Gagarin achieved what was till then thought impossible, C.R. Thomas, former Deputy Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), said, inaugurating the festival. “The flight shocked the world. No one had ever orbited the Earth before. After he became the first human being to have completed a 108-minute orbital flight, his first quotes were ‘I see Earth,’ ‘I see how beautiful our planet is’,” Mr. Thomas said in a statement.
“Today, space technology influences our everyday life. Russia has made great contributions to the development of space science technology. Gagarin’s space flight was the most important milestone in that. The Indo-USSR/Russia relationship, which began with the launch of Aryabhatta on board Kosmos 3M in 1975, is continuing,” he noted.
The guest of honour, K. Ashok Kumar, former scientist at Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), said communities worldwide continue to celebrate the monumental achievement of the Russian cosmonaut who dared to do what no person had done before.
Contests, films
Ratheesh C. Nair, Honorary Consul of the Russian Federation and director, Russian House, presided. The Russian House is organising a series of events including contests, seminars and film screenings to mark the event which is being organised in association with the Indo-Russian Youth Club and the Russia -India Friendship Association.
