Postage stamps commemorating Yuri Gagarin's space mission

12th April 1961 was the fateful day when Yuri Gagarin, a Russian cosmonaut, lifted off aboard Vostok-1 and became the first man ever to have crossed the boundary of earth's atmosphere and traveled inside the outer space. His 108 minutes flight that took him into the space and also had a round around the earth's orbit was harbinger for the famous Apollo-11 mission that took men on moon.

The four stamps on the left were issued by the USSR on the occasion. The stamp by the erstwhile Czechoslovakia, that is part of my collection, was also issued in 1961. A set of two stamps was issued by CCCP / USSR in 1981 to commemorate the 20 years of the historical space journey.

In 1991, on the 30th anniversary of Yuri's first flight to space, USSR issued a souvenir set of four stamps to honour their hero as seen above.

Today on 12 April 2011, the world celebrates the 50th anniversary of this remember-able day that later paved for many manned missions to the outer space, specially the moon.

Related Link: 12th April 2011 - 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's journey into space