Sixty years ago today at around 9 AM Moscow time, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to get a view of Earth from space (like this one captured from the International Space Station by astronaut Jeff Williams). With the famous utterance "Poyekhali!" ("Off we go!"), Gagarin launched into low Earth orbit in his Vostok 3KA spacecraft, making history in less than two hours with a complete trip around the planet. Landing in rural Russia, he became an instant worldwide celebrity—that is, after convincing puzzled locals he was a comrade and not a space alien.
In orbit for Yuri s Night
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
-
Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in Death Valley National Park, California
-
Sea fireflies at the seashore
-
Celebrating Native American Heritage Month
-
Spring equinox
-
Channel Country, Australia
-
Celebrating the International Day of Forests
-
Broken Beach in Nusa Penida, Bali, Indonesia
-
A bison preserve
-
Love blossoms
-
The Great Blue Hole, Belize
-
Tolkien Reading Day
-
Bearded reedlings in Flevoland
-
Wadden Sea coast, Friesland, Netherlands
-
A state-of-the-art lookout on the Rock of Gibraltar
-
A glimpse of the Blue Forest
-
The last thing seen by Wile E. Coyote
-
A cliffside harbor in Sardinia
-
Great gray owls in their nest, Finland
-
International Zebra Day
-
A shell of many colors
-
In praise of the old…the very old
-
Hallstatt, Austria
-
Celebrating Chile’s Independence Day
-
National Park Week begins
-
Ruins of St. Dwynwens Church, Ynys Llanddwyn, Wales
-
A goldie gala
-
Black History Month
-
Misool, Raja Ampat Islands, Indonesia
-
Purple flowers and Golden Week
-
And they’re off!
Bing Wallpaper Gallery

