Going Too Far? Space Foundation Removes Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's Name Over Ukraine War
Other than the oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin, ordinary Russians and Russian businesses who may or may not support the ongoing invasion of Ukraine have also been made to pay the price of Moscow's actions.
Many Russians had their businesses boycotted, banned from sports events etc.
The latest to join the list is legendary Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.
The first human to travel into space had his name removed from an annual conference.
Space Foundation?announced?in a now-deleted note that ¡°in light of current world events¡± it would be changing the name of a fundraiser from ¡°Yuri¡¯s Night¡± to ¡°A Celebration of Space: Discover What¡¯s Next¡± at its Space Symposium conference.
¡°The focus of this fundraising event remains the same ¡ª to celebrate human achievements in space while inspiring the next generation to reach for the stars,¡± the deleted update notes.
The Soviet cosmonaut had created history by becoming the first human to journey into outer space after he completed one orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961.
Gagarin who was born in a Soviet village that is currently part of Russia died in March 1968 at the age of 34, in a MiG-15 training jet crash.
During his lifetime and after death Gagarin has been honoured by the USSR and several countries around the world for his pioneering achievement.
Yuri's Night had been organized since 2000, annually to commemorate milestones in space exploration.
Many reacted strongly to what they saw as censoring of history.
Some also pointed out that Gagarin is considered a hero by a large section of the Ukraine population.
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