Fifty years ago today, on April 12, 1961, humanity finally overcame the gravity of our home planet and ventured for the first time into the space beyond. Personally I believe this is a day that will be remembered for as long as human civilisation survives, as a fundamental moment of transition.
To celebrate Yuri Gagarin’s momentous journey aboard his Vostok 3KA spacecraft, a film has been created titled First Orbit. The movie is a real-time recreation of Gagarin’s pioneering first orbit of the Earth, combining footage shot entirely in space from onboard the International Space Station with Gagarin’s original mission audio and a musical score by composer Philip Sheppard.
There are numerous hat-tips about the ‘net today – make sure you check out Google’s homepage design before it reverts.