Internet resources: Unique virtual museum “First in Space” launched

April 11, 2011 will see the launch of a unique virtual museum. The project of the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media marks 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s spaceflight. This website is a one-stop e-resource which offers all materials on victories of Russia in space exploration.

These are gigabytes of video- and audio recordings, documents, which used to be available only to a select few. In the sound recordings section users can listen to Gagarin and Korolev exchanging radio messages – from the legendary “Off we go” to the descent from orbit.

Video archive provides recordings of take-offs, the first account from orbit, countless accounts of everyday life of cosmonauts.

Rare newspaper articles, including a special issue of “Pravda” newspaper focused on Yuri Gagarin’s first flight into space, have been digitized specially for the portal.

Of particular interest are latest developments – stories about state-of-the-art satellites, prosperous projects, the life of cosmonauts in orbit. There is even a virtual observatory which shows stars as they are seen by the International Space Station (ISS) crew.

The site is available both in .RU zone at pobeda-kosmos.ru and .РФ zone at победа-космос.рф.