This document provides information about various events taking place around the UK in 2011 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin becoming the first human to travel into outer space. Events include the installation of a Gagarin statue in London, film screenings, lectures, concerts, and exhibitions focused on the history and future of human spaceflight.

1. OF
YEARS
50
HUMAN
SPACEFLIGHT
RIA NOVOSTI. PHOTOS@NOVOSTI.CO.UK

2. CELEBRATE 12th April 2011 marks the 50th
50
YEARS
OF
anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s spaceflight.
It was the first time a human being had
gone into outer space and thus a huge
achievement for mankind. A series of
events are taking place around the UK.
The following represents a selection,
with further information available
online at www.yurigagarin50.org
HUMAN
SPACEFLIGHT
YURI GAGARIN STATUE FOR LONDON BOOKSHOP BARNIE BRITISH FILM INSTITUTE: BRITISH INTERPLANETARY SOCIETY GAGARIN WINE AND TALK EVENT ‘THE FIRST MAN IN ROYAL OBSERVATORY GREENWICH:
THE MALL, LONDON THE GALLERY, FOYLES BOOKSHOP, KINO RUSSIAN FILM LECTURE – 50 YEARS OF HUMAN SPACE FLIGHT – SPACE… AND THE MAN WHO PUT HIM THERE’ SATURDAY SPACE EXPLORERS
14 JULY 2011 TO JULY 2012 CHARING CROSS ROAD, LONDON PIONEERS LONDON KEY TURNING POINTS BY PIERS BIZONY ASTRONOMY CENTRE,
6:30 FOR DRINKS AND A 6:45 PM START, 12 BFI SOUTHBANK, BELVEDERE ROAD, BRITISH INTERPLANETARY SOCIETY, ROYAL ALBERT HALL, KENSINGTON GORE, ROYAL OBSERVATORY GREENWICH,
The British Council, in partnership with the APRIL SOUTH BANK, LONDON, SE1 8XT 27/29 SOUTH LAMBETH ROAD, LONDON, SW8 1SZ LONDON, SW7 2AP BLACKHEATH AVE, LONDON, SE10 8XJ
Russian Space Agency, will install a sculpture of MAY – OCTOBER 2011 12 APRIL 2011 (7PM – 8.30 PM) 26 JUNE 2011 DATES: 30 APRIL, 28 MAY, 30 JULY,
Yuri Gagarin on the Mall on 14 July. The sculpture Martin Sixsmith on "Russia: A 1,000-year Chronicle Booking information: tickets can be booked online 27 AUGUST 2011 (DROP IN SESSIONS
will be officially unveiled by Yuri Gagarin’s of the Wild East" Martin was the BBC Moscow or call 020 7928 3232 Reflecting on the first 50 years of human space Piers Bizony, the author of the acclaimed first BEGIN AT 2PM, 2.30PM, 3PM, 3.30PM,
daughter, Elena, and a number of Russian correspondent for almost twenty years and this Bfi.org.uk flight Dr David Baker will discuss critical periods, biography of Gagarin to appear in English after the 4PM, 4.30PM)
cosmonauts, among them Alexei Leonov, the first book explores Russia's story: from its foundation to some of which have not yet appeared in print, collapse of the Soviet Union, talks about the myth
man to walk in space, and Sergei Krikalev, the its modern incarnation. BFI Southbank is unveiling its most comprehensive but which are key to understanding the scientific and reality of the first cosmonaut in the world. From finding planets in the night sky to predicting
current Director of Star City, will attend the Covering politics, music, literature and art, it season of Russian cinema yet. This major new six innovations of the past half century. BIS go Call 08450 401 5045. the phases of the moon, these workshops offer an
ceremony. Natalia Koroleva, daughter of Sergei accompanies the BBC's 50-part Radio 4 series, month overview, launching in May, will reveal why behind the scenes to examine the myths that veil Royalalberthall.com introduction to space and astronomy for younger
Korolev, ‘Chief Designer’ of the Soviet space which marks the 20th anniversary of the Soviet cinema first set the world on fire in the the reality behind key decisions made over the visitors. The workshops are drop-in events,
programme, will also attend, and she and Krikalev dissolution of the USSR. This special Bookshop 1920s, influenced so many filmmakers and can still first 50 years of human space flight. NIGEL CLARK: ‘GAGARIN’ providing opportunities to explore aspects of
will both give lectures at the Science Museum Barnie is held in association with the British surprise us today. The season will be explored in Booking information: To book call 020 7735 3160 ORCHESTRAL PERFORMANCES space using simple cardboard kits that children
during their visits to London. Council as part of the Russia-themed London Book three parts: Bis-spaceflight.com UK-WIDE can take away and use at home.
The sculpture comes from the small town of Fair 2011 Booking information: call 020 8312 6608 or
Lubertsy, just outside Moscow, where Gagarin Kino: early classic Russian cinema INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY Composer Nigel Clarke has created three new works bookings@nmm.ac.uk
attended vocational school between the ages of ASTROTALKS : 1 YURI GAGARIN LECTURE - A CELEBRATION OF to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Manned Nmm.ac.uk/visits/events
15-16. The date has been chosen to coincide with ONLINE INTERVIEW Kosmos: a journey into Russian and Soviet science MANNED SPACE FLIGHT – PAST, PRESENT AND Space Flight: ‘Road to the Stars’ , which focuses
Gagarin’s visit to London 50 years ago– he had HTTP://WWW.ASTROTALKUK.ORG fiction to coincide with the 50th Anniversary of FUTURE. on the excitement of those involved, the strength SECRET SATELLITES: AISLING O’BEIRN
lunch with the Queen on 14 July – and the FROM 9 APRIL 2011 Yuri Gagarin’s venture into space. IET LONDON: SAVOY PLACE, 2 SAVOY PLACE, of Gagarin’s character and the launch itself, and . (ARTIST) AND MARK BAILEY
sculpture will remain on the Mall for 12 months. LONDON, WC2R 0BL ‘Orbit’ , which looks at the exhilaration that (DIRECTOR OF ARMAGH OBSERVATORY)
The British Council will also mount an Two days after Yuri Gagarin's historic space flight Sokhuro: the career to date of a modern Russian DATES: TUESDAY 12 APRIL 2011 (6PM – 8PM) Gagarin might have experienced and the IN CONVERSATION
exhibition in its Reception area on the life of on 12th April 1961, Gagarin gave his first master, best known for Russian Ark (2002) impression that seeing Earth from space would BELFAST EXPOSED PHOTOGRAPHY,
Gagarin and the early Soviet space programme to international press conference on the 14th April in The Institute of Engineering and Technology have had on him. ‘Homecoming’ is a celebration in THE EXCHANGE PLACE, 23 DONEGALL ST,
coincide with the unveiling of the sculpture. It will Moscow. Amongst the journalist present was the THE TSAR’S BRIDE present an evening lecture, a celebration of 50 the form of a Russian folk dance. BELFAST, BTI 2FF
include photographs lent by the Gagarin family veteran BBC Aero Space correspondent, Reg Turnill. ROYAL OPERA HOUSE, LONDON years of manned space flight looking at the past, Dates: Gagarin is currently being performed world- 18 MARCH – 30 APRIL 2011
from their own archives, books by the father of With a hastily arranged USSR visa Turnill flew out 14 APRIL - 2 MAY 2011 present and future. Speakers are John Zarnecki, wide. In the UK there are performances in London, (TUES – SAT, 11AM-5PM).
Russian space science, Konstanin Tsiolkovsy, a and attended the press conference where he asked Sung in Russian with English subtitles Professor of Space Science, Open University and Kent, Northampton and Birmingham. Please see the TALK ON TUESDAY 12 APRIL 2011 (1-2PM)
specially made film showing the training of the Gagarin directly if he had landed inside his The Friends of Covent Garden Robin McKie, Science and Technology Editor, The website for further details and booking information.
first group of cosmonauts and the first launch, and spacecraft. Turnill never got a clear answer to that Observer. Nigel-clarke.co.uk For Secret Satellites, O’Beirn has produced an
some extremely rare items from the period of the or most of the other questions. He remembers the This new production by Paul Curran is not to be Booking information: online registration animation which presents a series of lay-persons’
first Vostok flights – among them a space suit and whole press conference as "Good humoured missed: a star cast and conductor for Rimsky- theiet.org/events/2011/Gagarin.cfm MOON FUTURES – A TOURING EXHIBITION questions around contemporary physics and some
ejector seat of the sort used by Gagarin. There are evasion". Korsakov’s Russian masterpiece in its first ever ABOUT LIVING ON THE MOON of the more quirky and abstract theories about the
no items of the Russian space programme on At the age of 95 Reg recalls the events of the performances by The Royal Opera. The opera may BBC RADIO 4 FACT (FOUNDATION FOR ART AND fundamental nature of space and its formation.
permanent view in the UK, and these loans from press conference from the notes he personally took be based on historical figures, but they act out a RANDOM EDITION CREATIVE TECHNOLOGY), O’Beirn is one of 4 artists exhibiting work in
the Russian Space Agency will provide an o the day. This video interview, recorded in July fictional story of intrigue, betrayal and corruption. MONDAY 11TH APRIL 2011, 11AM 88 WOOD STREET, LIVERPOOL, L1 4DQ Secret Satellites, an exhibition at Belfast Exposed
exceptional glimpse into the dawn of the space 2011 will be published online on 9th April 2011. Drawing on the director’s specialist knowledge of DECEMBER 15 2011 – FEBRUARY 26 2012 AT FACT which explores space and the orbital environment
age. Russia and the Russian opera repertory, this new This programme takes the front page of one of the (MON TO SAT 11AM – 6PM, SUN 12PM-6PM) from the perspective of the lay enthusiast.
Commissioned by Visual Arts at the British Council ASTROTALKS: 2 production evokes a dark and threatening world UK’s newspapers on 12 April, l961, the date of Belfastexposed.org
ONLINE INTERVIEW with hardhitting contemporary resonance. Marina Gagarin’s historic flight into orbit, and re-tells the How will we live on the Moon? 50 years after Yuri
FORWARD TO MARS: DESIGN AND THE HTTP://WWW.ASTROTALKUK.ORG Poplavskya, Johan Reuter and Ekaterina Gubanova story through archive clips, interviews with those Gagarin’s first flight into space, it still seems it is BUILDING THE REVOLUTION: SOVIET
NEW SPACE AGE YURI GAGARIN AND ERIC BROWN: lead a cast under the baton of the much-loved and who remember Gagarin’s visit to Britain, sound likely that the first rehearsal for living on a ART AND ARCHITECTURE 1915-1935
BRITISH COUNCIL RECEPTION, 10 SPRING PRIVATE MEETING IN LONDON respected Mark Elder. And with the brilliant recordings of Gagarin in space talking to earth, planetary object outside the earth will not be Mars ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS, LONDON
GARDENS, 13TH JULY 1961 orchestration and large ensembles this is a fine and interviews with friends and family. One of the but the Moon. But how have things changed since AUTUMN 2011
LONDON SW1A 2BN FROM 2 APRIL 2011 showcase for the acclaimed Royal Opera Chorus and rarest interviews is is between Andrea Rose and the US and Russian dash to the moon, ending in
5-30 APRIL 2011 the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. When Tsar Elena Gagarina, Yuri Gagarin’s elder daughter, who the 1969/71 moon landings? A group of visual This exhibition will present for the first time the
During his five day visit to Great Britain, Yuri Ivan the Terrible selects Marfa as his new bride, a talks on British radio for the first time about her artists re-imagine life on the Moon, including relationship between the unprecedented burst of
Forward to Mars considers a range of new design Gagarin had only one private test pilot to test pilot web of romantic and political jealousy and intrigue memories of her father, her life in Star City, and Agnes Meyer-Brandis, Leonid Tishkov and others, artistic creativity in Russia from 1915 and
projects for space exploration. The exhibition gives meeting. It took place on Thursday 13th July 1961 brings about death and disaster for her and the difficulties of growing up in the shadow of one in an exhibition at FACT, Liverpool, organised by Constructivist architecture, Russia’s contribution
an overview of some of the most interesting British with Captain Eric “Winkle” Brown in the heart of everyone around. The power of the few and world’s most celebrated figures. The Arts Catalyst. to the Modernist Movement. Drawing their
and international projects in development. It the British establishment, the Admiralty (known privileged can still control – and ruin – the lives of www.bbc.co.uk Booking information: free exhibition, booking inspiration from the radical abstraction of such
moves from projects that are currently completed today as the Department of Defence). Details of anyone they choose. Historical fiction and today’s advised for events 0151 707 4464 artists as Malevich, Lissitzky and Popova,
or under construction, to proposals for new designs this meeting are published for the first time fact intertwine in this new production to startling BBC RADIO 4 Melnikov, Ginsburg, Golosov, Vesnin and other
for space travel and habitation, culminating in because as Captain Brown says “No one had asked effect. A highlight of the Season, it is a rare AFTERNOON PLAY – TITANIUM KOSMICA AT THE ARTS CATALYST, Soviet architects, as well as Le Corbusier and
plans for manned missions to Mars, and habitable before” opportunity to see an operatic gem. 12 APRIL 2011, 2.15PM LONDON Mendelsohn, developed a new style of architecture
bases on the red planet. Captain Brown, now 92 years old, recalls that www.roh.org.uk DATES: 17 FEBRUARY, 24 MARCH, 12 which responded directly to Socialism’s
Exhibition curated by Peter Kelly and designed by Gagarin told him that he had ejected from his The story of Gagarin's first space flight through the APRIL 2011 AND EVERY 5-6 WEEKS determination to create a new Utopia. Examples of
Patrick Myles, in partnership with Blueprint. spacecraft prior to landing whilst repeatedly NATIONAL SPACE CENTRE eyes of his training partner GhermanTitov. THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. (7-10PM) this avant-garde architecture abound not just in
Commissioned by the Architecture, Design, Fashion insisting in public before and after this meeting NATIONAL SPACE CENTRE, A newly commissioned drama by Anita Sullivan Moscow and St Petersburg, but throughout the
department of the British Council. that he had landed inside his spacecraft. EXPLORATION DRIVE, about Yuri Gagarin's first space flight as recalled A new series of galactic gatherings for earth- former USSR in cities such as Kiev, Ekaterinburg,
The twenty minute video interview, recorded at LEICESTER, LE4 5NS by his training partner - the man who came closest bound artists, space engineers, performers, Baku, Sochi and Nizhny Novgorod. The energy,
FIRST ORBIT: A NEW FILM BY Captain Brown's home in January 2011, will be SPACECENTRE.CO.UK to taking Gagarin's place - Gherman Titov. astronomers, musicians and anyone interested in optimism and innovation which embodied this
CHRIS RILEY published online on 2nd April 2011. 16 APRIL – 2 MAY 2011 History rarely remembers who came second. If exploring and sharing space in original ways. remarkable period in architectural history will be
GLOBAL Yuri Gagarin had so much as sneezed on the 12th Every KOSMICA session will be unique: illustrated through drawings and paintings,
ASTROTALKS: 3 The National Space Centre, Leicester, is celebrating of April 1961 the honour of being the first man in bringing together the cosmically curious and architectural publications and important archival
In a unique collaboration between the European LEV DANILKIN, FRANCIS SPUFFORD AND the anniversary of Gagarin’s first flight with a orbit would have gone to his training partner, culturally quirky space community. Monthly photographs which will be set within the context
Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli and ORLANDO FIGES : ‘THE SOVIET DREAM’ range of new events. The following new features Titov. But Gagarin didn't sneeze and a KOSMICA evenings will bring together a social mix of newly created large scale photographs by the
documentary film producer Dr Christopher Riley PURCELL ROOM , SOUTHBANK CENTRE, will be unveiled for the Anniversary: disappointed Titov had to climb back down the of art-space programmes – a film screening, renowned architectural photographer, Richard Pare
‘First Orbit’ is a new film celebrating Yuri Gagarin’s LONDON launch tower. A few months later Titov did launch performance or live concert with a short of these iconic buildings now in decay or suffering
first space flight. Taking place in real time, it will 7.45PM, 13 APRIL 2011 The Vostok Factor: enter Star City for trainee successfully in Vostok II. He completed 17 earth presentation, talk and debate about alternative from inept and inappropriate restoration. Recently
reveal for the first time since Gagarin was in orbit cosmonauts and join first level basic training to see orbits (got space-sick, ate and slept) and is still and cultural uses of space. discovered material from the Moscow State
the exact trajectory that he took, and allow us to Marking the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's first if you have what it takes to become the next the youngest person ever to have gone into space. Booking information: full details published each Museum of Architecture (MUAR) will be brought
see what he saw as the first man in space. manned space flight, three writers explore the cosmonaut in space But he is largely unheard of because he wasn't month at arts.catalyst.org/whatson. together with works from the George Costakis
Humanity’s first orbit of the Earth has been re- Soviet Union of the 1950s and 60s, in which the The Gagarin Experience: Blast off in Vostok 1 or if 'first'. In Anita Sullivan's play, which marks the Online booking through eventbrite.com. Collection of Constructivist Art, housed in the
created by matching the orbital path of the planned economy would outstrip capitalism, and you just don’t think you are brave enough you can 50th anniversary of Gagarin's flight, the story of State Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki.
International Space Station as closely as possible communism would be the economic model of the take charge in Mission control. the two cosmonauts - their training, their SCRSS EXHIBITION: YURI GAGARIN – royalacademy.org.uk
to that of Gagarin’s flight. The original voice future. Lev Danilkin is Yuri Gagarin's official Big Bang Science: discover the rocket science that selection, the flight and its aftermath, is told THE FIRST MAN IN SPACE
THIS POSTER WAS DESIGNED BY PATRICK MYLES, AND COMMISSIONED BY THE BRITISH COUNCIL ARTS GROUP. WE ARE GRATEFUL TO RIA NOVOSTI FOR USE OF THE IMAGE
recording of Gagarin speaking to earth while in biographer, and has edited several key reviews of got Yuri Gagarin into space with our mad scientists through Titov's eyes as he waits at Chkalovsky SOCIETY FOR CO-OPERATION IN RUSSIAN YURIGAGARIN50
flight on Vostok 1 has been obtained from the contemporary Russian literature. Francis Spufford's Airbase for Yuri to return from what should have AND SOVIET STUDIES, YuriGagarin50 is the organiser and host of a range
Russian State Archive for Scientific book Red Plenty is part novel, part historical GAGARIN50 EXHIBITION AND TALKS BY been a routine training flight on the 27th March 320 BRIXTON ROAD, LONDON, SW9 6AB. of academic and educational activities celebrating
Documentation, and been exactly matched to the investigation of the communist dream and the key CHRIS RILEY AND GURBIR SING 1968. DATES: APRIL 14 – MAY 23 2011 the 50th anniversary of human space flight. The
view from his capsule at the time. This is a characters within it. Orlando Figes, one of the most THE LAURISTON GALLERY, WATERSIDE ARTS CENTRE, A BBC/Cymru Wales production, (OFFICIAL OPENING APRIL 14, 7PM. website provides an invaluable timeline on
collaboration between Dr Chris Riley, YouTube and distinguished historians of 20th-century Russia, SALE, MANCHESTER, M33 7ZF directed by Kate McAll Writer Bernard Kops will read the Gagarin, resource facility, archive documentation,
the British Council, and this remarkable film from and author of Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History 9 APRIL – 4 JUNE 2011 www.bbc.co.uk poem he wrote and presented to and an extensive events listing for the scientific
is available to download free of charge from of Russia, chairs the event (10AM-5PM MONDAY TO SATURDAY) Yuri Gagarin in 1961) and education community. Listings of all the
www.firstorbit.org Organised by the London Book Fair at the Southbank 12TH APRIL 7PM – YURI GAGARIN NIGHT POYEKHALI! – GAGARIN AND THE DAWN events organised by Yurigagarin50 can be found
Contact: celebrate@firstorbit.org Centre OF SPACE EXPLORATION Yuri Gagarin visited the offices of the Society for on their website: www.yurigagarin50.org.
http://www.britishcouncil.org/arts-literature- An exhibition of archive photography, fine art, ROYAL ALBERT HALL, KENSINGTON GORE, Cultural Relations with the USSR (now the SCRSS)
LONDON BOOK FAIR: RUSSIA MARKET londonbookfair.htm video, Soviet space memorabilia and witness LONDON, SW7 2AP during his visit to the UK in July 1961. The
FOCUS 2011 accounts revealing and reflecting on Gagarin as a 11 JUNE – 4 JULY FOR PEOPLE ATTENDING exhibition features photos of his visit, together
EARLS COURT AND OTHER LONDON VENUES ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY: family man, cosmonaut and icon. This is a great ROYAL ALBERT HALL CONCERTS AND EVENTS with other materials from the SCRSS archive.
11TH – 13TH APRIL ‘LITTLE EAGLES’ chance to see rarely-seen artefacts from the 25 JUNE, 2 JULY, 3 JULY ARE OPEN DAYS Booking information: for the official opening and
HAMPSTEAD THEATRE, LONDON extraordinary Cold War era. The exhibition also viewing by appointment contact SCRSS on 020 7274
As the official cultural programme partner of this 16 APRIL TO 7 MAY 2011 features specially –commissioned work from mural Drawing on rarely seen contemporary photographs 2282.
flagship event, the British Council brings the best Visit www.rsc.org.uk/london for details. artist Walter Kershaw and a mixed media from the archives of RIA Novosti, Russia’s news Scrss.org.uk
of contemporary Russian writing and publishing to installation by Mishka Henner & David Oates. and information agency, and the Science Photo
London for ‘Russia Market Focus’, in collaboration To coincide with the 50th anniversary of Yuri Young people are invited to get involved in ‘When I Library, this exhibition tells the story of Gagarin’s ROYAL OBSERVATORY GREENWICH:
with the Russian Federal Agency for Press and Mass Gagarin’s flight into orbit, the Royal Shakespeare Grow Up’, a short story competition. early life, his historic flight and the fame that DAWN OF SPACE AGE
Communication and Academia Rossica. A series of Company is staging the world premiere of Rona Booking information: followed him until his untimely death in 1968. ROYAL OBSERVATORY GREENWICH,
high-profile trade and public events highlight the Munro’s new play, Little Eagles, at Hampstead Gagarin & The Space Race, free talk by Chris Riley, Using as the title the phrase that Gagarin uttered BLACKHEATH AVE, LONDON, SE10 8XJ
wealth of opportunities existing at the intersection Theatre. ‘Little Eagles’ was name given to the first 6.30pm 23 May 2011. as he lifted off from Baikonur on 12 April l961 DATES 9 – 25 APRIL 2011 (10AM-5PM)
of commerce and cultural relations. Russian group of Russian cosmonauts by the Chief Gagarin in Manchester, free talk by Gurbir Sing, (‘Let’s go!’) we see beneath the veneer of the
writers, both emerging and established, and from Designer, Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, the brains 1.30pm. public hero to get a glimpse of a family man inside In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Yuri
all over Russia, will be taking part in a series of behind the early Soviet space programme. This To book, call 0161 912 5616. and we find an understanding of how he became Gagarin’s historic journey into space the Royal
events, talks, and seminars both at the London gripping new play charts the space race from the gagarin50.co.uk briefly the most famous man in the world. This Observatory presents Dawn of the Space Age, half
Book Fair and in cultural venues around London perspective of the Soviet Union, bringing to life twitter.com/Gagarin_50 exhibition is a collaboration between RIA Novosti a century of space history brought to life with
among them Boris Akunin, Pavel Kostin, Olga the fascinating and little-known story of the and the Science Photo Library. stunning visuals of London’s only planetarium.
Slavnikova and Lev Danilkin, Gagarin’s most recent brilliant man behind its success, and of the six From mankind’s first steps into space, to the
Russian biographer. On 12 April, a recorded link first cosmonauts, Korolev’s beloved ‘little eagles’. daring lunar landings to today’s world of space
with the International Space Station will be shown Gagarin was the first to fly. tourism, the epic story of space exploration is
at the Russian Pavilion at the London Book Fair. made vivid and actual. .
http://www.britishcouncil.org/arts-literature- Booking information: Call +44 (0)20 7722 9301 Booking information: Ages 7+, call 020 8312 6608,
londonbookfair.htm This event will be broadcast live on the web at bookings@nmm.ac.uk
royalsociety.org/live and available to view on Nmm.ac.uk/visits/events/
demand within 48 hours of delivery. Visit our video
archive at royalsociety.tv