Today marks the anniversary of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s historic 1961 space flight; events scheduled around the globe to celebrate first human in space.

Celebrations are taking place tonight all around the globe in honor of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who on this day in 1961 during a 108-minute flight was the first human to escape Earth’s gravity and achieve orbit.

Dubbed Yuri’s Night, the event includes 119 parties taking place in 32 countries on six continents.

In Los Angeles, Star Trek alum George Takei and legendary science fiction writer Ray Bradbury will take part in the free festivities at the Griffith Observatory in the Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater.

Gagarin, who has a crater on the Moon named after him, died in 1968 in the crash of a plane he was test-piloting. On an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation titled “Unnatural Selection,” the planet Gagarin IV was named after the cosmonaut.

Today, Google replaced their official logo with this one dedicated to Gargarin’s historic flight, which shows his space capsule orbiting Earth while two small aliens wave him on.

Source: startrek.com