The Russkiy Mir foundation will next week name a park avenue in the U.S. city of Houston after the first man in space, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the historic first manned flight to space, Russkiy Mir, which promotes Russian language and culture abroad, has launched an international campaign under the title First in Space.
The foundation, along with its U.S. partners, plans "to plant an alley of trees in honor of Gagarin's flight and establish a monument to the first man to travel into space."
Russian space agency Roscosmos also plans to set up a memorial plaque in NASA's Johnson Space Center, with the historic Gagarin quote "Let's go!" engraved in Russian and English. The Soviet cosmonaut used the phrase during liftoff of the first manned space flight in 1961.
On Wednesday numerous events will be held in Russia to mark Gagarin's birthday. The cosmonaut was born on March 9, 1934 in the western Russian city of Gzhatsk, later renamed Gagarin.
A car rally to mark the cosmonaut's birthday will set off from downtown Moscow to Gagarin on Wednesday. Among the participants are Russian cosmonauts, politicians, athletes and celebrities.
Gagarin died on March 27, 1968, a little under seven years after becoming the first human to fly to space and orbit Earth. He died during a routine practice flight in a MiG-15UTI fighter plane, which crashed near the town of Kirzhach, about 100 kilometers outside Moscow.
MOSCOW, March 9 (RIA Novosti)
