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  1. Open Twitter on Tuesday morning, and you would immediately know what anniversary Russians were celebrating.
  2. Among the 10 most popular topics for Russian users, you found Russian and English-language versions of "Yury Gagarin," "Happy Cosmonauts' Day," "#КосмосНаш" (the cosmos is ours), as well as "поехали," Gagarin's iconic "let's go" just before lift-off.
  3. So, 55 years after he became the first human to travel into space, we have put together a collection of the most interesting, creative or just downright funny tributes people have shared in Gagarin's honor.

  4. 1. Future Cosmonauts

  5. The soup-bowl helmets, the bright orange suits and some easily-identified flying objects: These kids certainly are having a great time marking the day.

  7. 2. Cool Gagarin

  8. You may not have heard of Ryazan before, but you will probably remember the Russian city, nearly 200 kilometers southeast of Moscow, after seeing this clip filmed there. Watch as the camera pans out to gradually reveal Gagarin's face, drawn onto a frozen lake.

  10. 3. Ride Your Own Rocket

  11. To mark the day, Uber decided to change the symbols representing its taxis on the Moscow maps to little rocket icons. Which will probably entertain people right until their "rocket" has to slow down to walking speed during the evening rush hour.

  13. 4. Realism Reloaded

  14. The Pushkin Museum found its own way of marking the historic day by sharing this painting. A work of the late Italian artist Renato Guttuso, it draws attention to the cosmonaut's eyes, which look skywards.

  16. 6. Beyond Gagarin

  17. It's worth remembering that Cosmonauts' day isn't just about honoring the first ever human to go to space, but also those who followed in his footstep. Take this photo from Eastern Germany: It shows Gagarin alongside Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, being celebrated by a stadium full of soccer fans.

  19. 7. Beyond the Moon

  20. Not everyone is in a festive mood, though. Some people marked the day with criticism of Russia's current space efforts. This collection of images shows Gagarin on the phone, calling later generations: "How's it going? Have you managed to land on Mars yet?" The other images show slogans written on the roofs of the Vostochny Cosmodrome, whose workers appealed to President Vladimir Putin in 2015 after not receiving their salaries for months.

  22. 8. Moving Pictures

  23. If you manage to watch this Roscosmos documentary without taking the occasional deep breath, you are probably made of sterner stuff than most. Mixing footage of Gagarin's private life and official coverage of an event that made headlines around the world, it gives you an idea of just how unique an achivement the first manned space flight really was.
  24. Гагарин (фильм HD)
    Телестудия Роскосмоса
    ·
    Fri, Apr 24 2015 10:50:58

  25. 9. Who's Next?

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