lazypadawan's Holocron

I was reflecting a bit on this myself, and had the chance to read through my family's National Geographic article from 1962 covering the flight. It does seem to feel a bit different in complexion than Yuri Gagarin's first orbit (which had its own fiftieth anniversary just last year), but perhaps that's because the country that launched Gagarin no longer exists and he's been "appropriated by the world."