Rogozin criticizes US state department for failing to mention first man in space

The head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, has criticized the International Day of Human Space Flight release of the US State Department on Facebook, which makes no mention of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space.
On April 12, 1961, Gagarin pronounced his famous “Poyekhali!” (Let’s Go!) as the Vostok spacecraft lifted off the ground, taking the first person ever to space. The anniversary of the first Soviet cosmonaut’s flight is celebrated every year in Russia as Cosmonautics Day on April 12, and as International Day of Human Space Flight in the rest of the world.
The US State Department made no mention of Gagarin at all in its Facebook statement released on the occasion of International Day of Human Space Flight on Monday and posted pictures of US astronauts instead.
“Superpowers don’t act this way,” Rogozin said on Twitter, commenting on the State Department’s releases.
The UN General Assembly declared April 12, the day of Gagarin’s space flight, as the International Day of Human Space Flight in 2011.
US-based Space Foundation CEO Tom Zelibor told Sputnik on Monday that legendary Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s pioneering space flight 60 years ago was life-changing for every nation on the planet. According to Zelibor, many people in the United States are unaware either of the achievements of the Russian space program or the risks of Gagarin’s space flight, and that the Soviet cosmonaut’s story should be told better in the US.

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