Wednesday marks the anniversary of the first manned flight to space, performed by Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 1961. The date is celebrated as the Cosmonautics Day in Russia and the International Day of Human Space Flight worldwide.

The recent years have been difficult for Russia’s space agency Roscosmos and the country’s entire space industry in general, due to international sanctions against Russia and successes by the country’s space rivals, notably from the United States. While Russia had to cope with cuts in the financing of its Federal Space Program and Proton engine malfunction issues, the United States successfully tested reusable rocket boosters and continued tests of delivery vehicles intended to replace Russian-made Soyuz carrier rockets.