Economy, technology, sports, music, art, cats, dogs... Since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, anti-Russian sentiment in the West has become increasingly high, resisting Russia in all directions, and this time their goal is to target Yuri Gagarin, the first space hero of mankind to enter space for more than half a century.
According to Russia Today reported on March 18, the U.S. non-governmental organization Space Foundation recently issued a statement to rename a fundraising event originally called "Yuri Night" and delete Gagarin's name, only because Gagarin is Russian. The group issued a statement explaining that it was doing so "in light of current world events," but subsequently deleted the statement.
Screenshot of the report
The Space Foundation is a colorado-based nonprofit led primarily by senior officials in the aerospace industry. Every spring, the Space Foundation hosts a large space industry conference called the Space Symposium. The event, which has been held for 37 years, usually attracts more than 10,000 aerospace industry professionals from all over the world. In addition, attendees spent nearly $3,000 to get a "premium access" to attend.
On this year's conference agenda, the Space Foundation will host a fundraiser called "Yuri Night" on April 3. However, the name of the event was recently changed to "Space Celebration: Exploring the Future" and Gagarin's name was deleted.
The foundation issued a statement saying the reason for the name change was "in light of current world events." However, the Space Foundation later deleted the statement and no longer explained the matter. But the foundation said the name change wouldn't change the fundraiser's focus on "celebrating humanity's achievements in space while inspiring the next generation to explore the stars." ”
Space Foundation deleted the statement
On April 12, 1961, Gagarin boarded the Vostok 1 spacecraft and returned safely after circling the Earth in an orbit with a maximum altitude of 301 kilometers, achieving the feat of humanity's first voyage in space. Later, this day of the year was designated as World Space Day, and Gagarin was awarded the country's highest honor, "Hero of the Soviet Union". In 1968, Gagarin was killed in a plane crash at the age of 34.
Gagarin Infographic
The U.S. Space Fund's move to remove Gagarin's name drew a wave of criticism.
The tech news site Futurism commented, "It's too bad to celebrate 'what humans have achieved in space' while erasing the name of the first human to fly into space... But doing so is outrageous in line with the trend of boycotting all Russian things, including famous composers and food. ”
The Futurism website also noted that the move by the U.S. Space Fund as a show of support for Ukraine was a "rather dubious performance." Gagarin was a space hero of the former Soviet Union, and Ukrainians loved Gagarin and his immortal achievements. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's first space launch in 2011, Ukraine also issued a commemorative stamp.
Some netizens can't look down: "When Yuri Gagarin died, Putin was still an incompetent teenager. It was a mistake and made to feel very angry. ”
"Yuri died before the collapse of the Soviet Union! He has nothing to do with these things, and can't we remember the great things that many Russians do because of Putin? ”
"A bad decision. Yuri's achievements are human achievements that should be praised. ”
Source: WeChat public account "Observer Network"
Source: Central Committee of the Communist Youth League