On April 12th, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alexseyevich Gagarin became the first human in space.
Looks like yeast cake in my stout.
John Prine said it well…
Houston we need to get there! And so it began! The guy is a legend and a universal HERO!
And 50 years later we’re getting ready to hitch rides to space with the Russians as we retire the shuttle. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. 
And let’s not forget that while NASA spent millions of dollars developing a pen that would write in space the Soviets just took a pencil.
The pen went to the moon. The pencil did not.
I have one of those pens. I like that you can use them in all sorts of funny angles, like doing a crossword puzzle laying down, that would not work with a normal pen.
I had a similar pen when I was younger. If you tipped it upside down, the women’s clothes would turn into a bikini. Wish I knew where it was today.
Still had on a bikini? You got gypped.
I used to have one of those bikini pens. Too bad I lost it.
I was 12 at the time. At that age, the Sear catalog was like porn to me 
I hate this “legend”
Dang. No shuttle for the Seattle Air & Space Museum.
Well, we’re getting a second one (actually the first (Enterprise) is being replaced)
Thanks, saved me the time of posting that.
Gee - I thought the “NASA spent millions of dollars developing a pen that would write in space the Soviets just took a pencil” was true.
I mean, someone wrote it on the internet after all! :
Next thing you know you’re gonna expect me to believe that the Americans really landed on the moon - six times!
I sure hope Buzz Aldrin isn’t reading this . . .
Awesome! Thanks for the link Tom!
Buzz was a big hero for me before seeing this. He just went way up in my eyes. (a fellow Tau Beta Pi member)
Awesome!!!