Photo by O.P.Kopchevsky

On this day 46 years ago, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to be blasted into space. Naturally, Russians have celebrated this anniversary with vigor since its first occurrence the year following in the form of Cosmonautics Day, an annual holiday with an accompanying bevy of commemorative coins, stamps and magnificent pieces of authoritarian architecture like the Moscow monument pictured here.

While the rest of the world will naturally have a hard time matching the coolness of a towering, 100%-titanium Gagarin/Voltron hybrid (O to be an architect in the Soviet era!), an impressive international tribute has begun to emerge in the form of Yuri's Night. Since its foundation in 2001 by three lovers of all things space, the affair has sprouted parties in over 35 countries attracting space luminaries such as Ray Bradbury, Peter Diamandis and, ahem, Lance Bass. And if you're worried about being labeled a godless Commie, don't worry—April 12 is also the anniversary of the first Space Shuttle mission back in 1981.

From the website:"Whether in someones living room, a swinging nightclub or a world-class science museum, Yuris Night events all have one thing in common - people who are excited about space exploration and who want to join together to celebrate it."

Check it out to find a party near you. —John Mahoney

The shuttle Discovery performs its 360-degree pitch maneuver over the coast of Spain, broadcast liveon NASA TV

Ive said it before, and Ill say it again: NASA has a truly impressive Web site. Apparently the only government agency these days taking the whole public accessibility thing seriously, NASA seemingly makes just about everything available on its site. And right now, with a space shuttle mission under way, its NASA.govs time to truly shine.

NASA TV—the agencys own channel, available on the Web and in some satellite and cable packages—is normally mind-numbingly boring even for space-o-philes like me but actually becomes interesting during a shuttle mission, broadcasting live video from cameras onboard Discovery and the International Space Station, along with full radio transmissions from mission control. NASA even provides a minute-by-minute mission schedule, handy for knowing when to tune in for some extravehicular activity—or an SSRMS ROBOT ARM PUMP MODULE GRAPPLE, if thats more to your taste. Either way, check it out and see your tax dollars being put to use somewhere up above the wild blue yonder. —John Mahoney

Related:Martian Standard TimeWe Fly the Space Shuttle: Inside NASA's Shuttle Flight SimulatorCEV vs. Apollo