Cosmonaut Statue Lands In London - Sky News
4:15pm UK, Thursday July 14, 2011
A statue of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, has been unveiled in London to mark the 50th anniversary of his achievement.
The unfinished statue of Yuri Gagarin in Russia
The statue - a copy of one in Lubertsy, the town where Gagarin trained as a foundry worker as a teenager - is a present from the Russian Space Agency and will stay in the Mall for 12 months.
Yuri Gagarin aboard Vostok prior to blast off
"Gagarin belongs not only to Russia but to all countries and nations, and it's important to us that the statue will be shown in London," said the agency's Vitaly Davydov.
"Russia and the UK have much in common, not only as allies during World War II, and victory gained through sacrifice - but as nations which have always been eager to travel to the unknown, and to discover new space; Gagarin symbolises this aspiration.
A message from the crew of the International Space Station (no subtitles) from British Council on Vimeo.
"And I believe that it is very important for us to combine our efforts - intellectual, cultural, logistical, and practical - to create a better planet for future generations everywhere."
The original statue was made by Anatoly Novikov, one of the chief sculptors of the Stalingrad Memorial (now the Volgograd Memorial), to commemorate Gagarin's 50th birthday.
It is now a site of pilgrimage for cosmonauts before they travel into space.
Gagarin holding a bouquet a month before his flight into space
The London statue - given to the British Council - was unveiled by the Russian cosmonaut's daughter, Elena Gargarina, and will stand opposite one of Britain's greatest explorers, Captain James Cook.
Gagarin died in a plane crash in 1968, at the age of 34.
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