On April 12th it will have been 50 years since Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in outer space.
There are a fair few programmes coming up devoted to this anniversary, so I thought I’d link to a few.
First of all, here’s a great piece from Robin McKie in The Observer a few weeks ago, that talks about Sergei Korolev, the man who got him into space.
The BBC World Service has a programme on Monday celebrating the anniversary. With any luck, that will be available in podcast form afterwards.
On Radio 4, there’s already a programme called The Communist Cosmos broadcast a couple of days ago. And next Tuesday, there’s a play telling Gagarin’s story from the point of view of his training partner – Titanium.
The whole of Sunday evening is a space night on BBC Four. But the highlight must be a new Storyville – Knocking On Heaven’s Door – which gives the background of the Soviet space programme.
That programme also featured on Night Waves on Radio 3 last night.
Finally, there’s a lovely story on the BBC News site detailing Gagarin’s trip to Britain, including a memorable detour to Manchester. Watch the accompanying videos.
Have I missed any programmes?