Going Too Far? Space Foundation Removes Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's Name Over Ukraine War
Yuri Gagarin 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. The Soviet cosmonaut had created history by becoming the first human to journey into outer space.
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.
Astronomy Today
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.
Astronomy Today
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.
Wikimedia
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.
"Looking at the earth from afar you realize it is too small for conflict and just big enough for co-operation" - Yuri Gagarin pic.twitter.com/oyDrWUQXL4
¡ª Esha K (@eshaLegal) March 19, 2022
Putin is bad so Yuri Gagarin didn't go to space and Tchaikovsky wasn't a good composer and Dostoevsky was a lousy writer and Sputnik was designed by Lockheed Martin and Anton Chekhov was Welsh and Khabib Nurmagomedov was born in Minnesota.
¡ª Caitlin Johnstone ? (@caitoz) March 19, 2022
I despise war, and hate Putin and his cronies for starting it.
¡ª Vuk Vukovic (@wolf_vukovic) March 18, 2022
But shaming every single living and dead Russian is not only ridiculous, it¡¯s counterproductive.
What does one hope to acheive by stripping Yuri Gagarin, who has absolutely nothing to do with this, of his honours? https://t.co/xKmRvTv4am
Yuri Gagarin was the first person in space, ¡°current world events¡± don¡¯t change facts.
¡ª Sema (@_SemaHernandez_) March 19, 2022
SMH. https://t.co/g9mHcpa9rF
1983 :: Indian Astronauts Rakesh Sharma and Ravish Malhotra Training at The Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center In Russia pic.twitter.com/HKXWBuwBQl
¡ª indianhistorypics (@IndiaHistorypic) March 19, 2022
Some also pointed out that Gagarin is considered a hero by a large section of the Ukraine population.
For more on news, sports and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
Read More
