Russia

Another Russian multiply postcard, also sent by Marina, for my modest Russian multiplies collection. This one shows the most famous Russian people of all time who were important in a variety of science branches and art, stretching from biology to rocket engineering. 

I'd like to write something about Yuri Gagarin, who also found place on the card. There are also many his fans among postcard collectors.

Yuri Gagarin was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on 12 April 1961. On 12 April 1961, aboard the Vostok 1, Gagarin became both the first human to travel into space, and the first to orbit the earth. His call sign was Kedr.

In his post-flight report, Gagarin recalled his experience of spaceflight, having been the first human in space:

"The feeling of weightlessness was somewhat unfamiliar compared with Earth conditions. Here, you feel as if you were hanging in a horizontal position in straps. You feel as if you are suspended."

After the flight, Gagarin became a worldwide celebrity, touring widely abroad, and was awarded many medals and titles, including Hero of the Soviet Union, the nation's highest honour. Vostok 1 marked his only spaceflight, but he served as backup crew to the Soyuz 1 mission. Gagarin later became deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre outside Moscow, which was later named after him.

On 27 March 1968, while on a routine training flight from Chkalovsky Air Base, he and flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin died in a MiG-15UTI crash near the town of Kirzhach. The cause of the crash that killed Gagarin is not entirely certain, and has been subject to speculation about conspiracy theories over the ensuing decades. The bodies of Gagarin and Seryogin were cremated and the ashes were buried in the walls of the Kremlin on Red Square. 

The stamps issued in 2012 to commemorate the 2014 Olympic Games that will take place in Sochi, Russia.