Russia is celebrating Cosmonautics Day on April 12 in commemoration of the first manned space flight on April 12, 1961, when a booster rocket took the Vostok spacecraft into orbit with the first cosmonaut on board - Soviet citizen Yuri Gagarin.

The significance of Yuri Gagarin's first manned flight into space was discussed everywhere, even in an Iranian village, according to Iranian writer and publicist Surus Borzoo. In an interview with Sputnik Persia, Borzoo shared his views on the importance of this day in Iran.

"For the people of Iran, as well as for the whole of humanity, it was the greatest event in the development of science, overcoming the boundaries of space."

"However, as you know, back then the details of the flight were not as widely demonstrated and general information about Yuri Gagarin's flight was not presented as it is today. But, nevertheless, the Iranian newspaper Iranian space success result of close contact with Russian scientistss on April 13, 1961 were about Gagarin, with Iranian readers watching his unique smile," the author said.

The author noted that this journey was the opening of the borders to space and it was a landmark event that directly impacted the consciousness of all those who have been fascinated by the science of space, and for all the others too.

"Gagarin's flight was the impetus for the development of space activities worldwide. Many flocked to study astrophysics at astronautics universities. Iranians were no exception. However, it should be noted that over the past two decades since the first flight of man into space we have just been listeners, students and theoreticians rather than practitioners."

However the author noted that over time the Islamic Republic of Iran has moved from theory to practice. That is, the active work in the field of astronautics has begun with Iranian scientists building launch vehicles and satellites that have gone into orbit.

"Also solely with our own efforts, we have successfully launched the biological capsule of living creatures into space (including capsule with a monkey). Scientific research is happening in Iran vigorously to this day."

According to Borzoo the foundation of the Iranian Space successes was laid by close contact with the Russian experts.

"Today, Iran's young people are actively interested in space and specialists would like to continue their studies at a higher academic level. In this regard, I personally took the initiative and invited several leading Russian cosmonauts for seminars and meetings with Iranian students and professionals.

Among them was Georgy Grechko who has come to Iran by invitation twice and Alexandr Lazutkin. These respected Russian cosmonauts will confirm how Iranian youth have a high interest in the development of Russian cosmonautics."

"In general, we hope that in the near future we will see some new qualitative leap and the achievements of our young professionals on the global arena," the author concluded.

Source: Sputnik News