Russia celebrates space anniversary

Fifty years ago today, a fresh-faced smiling young Soviet blasted off from Baikonour to become the first man in space. Yury Gagarin remains one of Russia’s biggest heroes, reaching messiah-like status.

Today, time in Russia has stopped and every news service, Twitter feed, Facebook update, news report is focusing on the anniversary. Watch a news report below and read about the anniversary here, here and here. And the Guardian is doing a sort of livefeed, imitating Gagarin's 108-minute flight, including all the communications between him and mission control. Read it here. The New York Times has a nice photo slideshow.