Statue of Yuri Gagarin to be put up in London 50 years after Russian became first man to journey into space

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated:

He made history in April 1961 when he became the first man to journey into space.

Now, 50 years on, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin is set to be honoured with a statue on London's Mall.

The monument - which will be the first of a Soviet-era Russian in the capital - is due to be unveiled in July, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's historic visit to Britain three months after his space mission.

New model: The London monument to Yuri Gagarin will be modelled on the statue in Lyubertsy, Russia
Out of this world: Yuri Gagarin made his space mission in April 1961 and went on to train other cosmonauts

The London monument to Yuri Gagarin (right) will be modelled on this statue (left) in Lyubertsy, on the outskirts of Moscow, Russia. He made history in 1961 when he became the first man to travel in space

According to the Independent, the statue will sit opposite the monument to Captain Cook near Admiralty Arch, and will be a copy of an existing Gagarin statue in Lyubertsy, on the outskirts of Moscow.

The unveiling is part of a series of events organised by YuriGagarin50, a year-long celebration of his journey into space as well as Britain and Russia's other achievements in space flight.

Events will include lectures, concerts and special exhibits at museums up and down the UK. Organisers are also aiming to mark the 50th anniversary of the actual flight, on April 12, with a mass launch of model rockets across the country.

Gagarin, who was born in the Russian village of Klushino in 1934, became an international celebrity after his trip into space.

Thousands of people turned out to greet him when he made his trip to the U.K the following July as a guest of the British Foundry Workers' Union.

The trip took him to Manchester, where the president of the union presented him with a gold medal, before he travelled to London where he met Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and had lunch with the Queen and Prince Philip.

Greeting the crowds: Gagarin was an international celebrity by the time he visited Britain in July 1961

Greeting the crowds: Gagarin was an international celebrity by the time he visited Britain in July 1961. He was invited here as a guest of the British Foundry Workers' Union

He was also a special guest at a reception at the Society for Cultural Relations between the British Commonwealth and the USSR, now the Society for Co-Operation in Russian and Soviet Studies (SCRSS).

'The British government had to play catch-up back then because Gagarin wasn't officially invited by them,' SCRSS vice-chairman Ralph Gibson told the Independent.

'By July he had become the first international superstar. As far as I am aware his British visit was his first to a Western country. At the height of the Cold War it was extraordinary for him to be greeted in the way he was.'

Gagarin went on to become Deputy Training Director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre outside Moscow. However he died tragically in 1968 when his training jet crashed, with the actual circumstances of his death remaining a mystery.

Since his death the Cosmonaut Training Centre has been renamed in his honour while the Russian village of Gzhatsk, which was adjacent to his home town, was also renamed Gagarin.

The statue is set to be in place for 12 months.

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