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Tour of the year
THE PIONEER OF SPACE
50-YEARS OF THE FIRST MANNED SPACE FLIGHT
MOSCOW / KALUGA
 In 2011 the humankind celebrated 50-year's anniversary of the first man in the outer space. For Russia this date is especially important because this man was a Russian Yuri Gagarin and the rocket that brought him to the orbit was conceived, designed and constructed in Russia. Since that many people around the world commemorate 12 April as Cosmonautics Day (also known as Yuri's Night).
 Nowadays, when we are all spoiled by the pace that technology is developing and used to the reports about the astronauts doing their routine job in the outer space, it is difficult to imagine that the human presence in the space is merely 50-years old. But at that time launching a man to the Earth's orbit was like jumping into unknown. Nobody knew what was waiting the humans when they would leave the comfortable environment of the home planet. That makes the achievement of the engineers, scientists, constructors and the cosmonauts even more impressive.
While the names of Yuri Gagarin and some other Russian cosmonauts are generally known to the people around the world, the names of the Russian scientists who developed the beginnings of the theory of the space flight as well as the talented constructors who designed the rockets and spaceships are much less pronounced.
Regarded as the founder of spaceflight Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, lived in the beginning of the last century in Russian provincial town Kaluga. He was inspired by early cosmist philosophers, especially Nikolai Fyodorov. Working as a high school mathematics teacher, all free time Tsiolkovsky dedicated to the theory of the spaceflight. His works further influenced researchers such as Friedrich Zander and laid the theoretical basis for the modern space science.
The father of the practical astronautics and the designer of the Soviet space program Sergey Korolyov during his life was mostly referred simply as the "Chief Designer". He was working in the time of the Cold War and even his name was a state secret then. His organizing talent and his foresight had helped Soviet Union to win the Space Race. Only many years later was he publicly regarded as the lead man behind Russian success in space. Nowadays the Moscow's suburb where the main space research centre of Russia is situated bears the name of Korolyov.
The program of the tour: 5 Days/4 Nights
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Day 1
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Arrival to Moscow, transfer to the hotel.
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Day 2
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Breakfast. Moscow city tour, including stops at the most famous landmarks of the Russian capital such as The Red Square with the tomb of the first cosmonaut Yury Gagarin, The Christ the Savior Cathedral, New Maiden Convent and the Sparrow Hills. The guided tour of the Kremlin. In the afternoon we visit recently renewed and updated State Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics. The museum opened after extensive renovation in April 2009 and features the original artifact of the beginning of the Space Age, such as spaceship landing modules and space suites as well as the life size model of 'Mir' space station main module.
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Day 3
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After the breakfast we go for full day guided tour to Kaluga - the birthplace of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, the founder of theoretical astronautics. There we visit the Museum of the History of the Space Exploration and the memorial house of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky where he contemplated the principles that laid the basis for the construction of the spacecraft.
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Day 4
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Breakfast. Full day tour to Zvezdnyj Gorodok ('The Star City'): Situated 30 km from Moscow the Star City has been at the heart of the Russian space program as the only professional training grounds of cosmonauts in the world. There the Cosmonauts Training Centre and Museum of the Star City named after Yuri Gagarin are located. We can see the biggest centrifuge in the world that is used for cosmonauts training by simulating the space flight as well as the Hydro Lab that is designed to test space object models and micro gravity. The main Russian Space Control Centre is situated there as well. The tourist visits to the Star City are only possible as a part of the organized groups.
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Day 5
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Breakfast, transfer to the airport, departure.
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- The price of the tour is quoted on request.
HISTORY OF THE SPACE EXPLORATION
- 04 October 1957: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik the first artificial satellite in the Earth history.
- 03 November 1957: The Soviet Union launched the first ever living creature, a dog called Laika into the cosmos.
- 2 January 1959: Soviet rocket is launched towards the Moon - the first artificial object leaving the Earth's gravity.
- 12 Sepember 1959: Soviet-made space probe is launched towards the Moon, hitting our space neighbor 36 hour later, making it the first man made craft reaching our natural satellite.
- 26 October 1959: Soviet space probe takes photos of the dark side of the Moon.
- 12 April 1961: The first man is launched in space. The Russian pilot Yuri Gagarin has become an international icon as the first representative of the Earth in space.
- 5 May 1961: US launch their first astronaut into suborbital flight.
- 20 February 1962: Lieutenant John Glenn becomes the first US astronaut orbiting the Earth.
- 16 June 1963: Russian Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space.
- 18 March 1965: Alexey Leonov? the Soviet cosmonaut? became the first human to conduct a space walk, connected to Voskhod-2 spacecraft only by a tether.
- 3 February 1966: Russian-built Luna 9 becomes the first probe safely landing on the Moon.
- 1 March: 1966: Russian probe Venera 4 enters the atmosphere of Venus.
- 21 July 1969: Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the Moon, stepping onto the Moon's surface in the Sea of Tranquillity.
- 20 September 1970: Soviet robotic probe Luna 16 collects some Moon rocks and returns them to the Earth.
- 24 December 1979: Europe launches her first space rocket.15 October 2003: China launches her first man in space, becoming the third country that achieved it independently.
Last update: 18.11.2011
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