Today, people celebrate World Aviation and Cosmonautics Day - a milestone event honoring humanity’s first journey into space and the beginning of the space age.

On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made history as the first person to travel into space. His legendary flight aboard the Vostok-1 lasted 1 hour and 48 minutes, completing a full orbit around Earth and opening a new chapter in space exploration, The Caspian Post reports.

The significance of the achievement was recognized the following year, when April 12 was officially established as World Aviation and Cosmonautics Day by a decision of the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

In Azerbaijan, the foundations of the national space industry were laid in 2008 by an order signed by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. This led to the creation of Azercosmos in 2010.

A major milestone came in 2013 with the launch of Azerspace-1, making Azerbaijan one of the countries with its own satellite capabilities. This was followed by the Earth observation satellite Azersky in 2014 and the more advanced Azerspace-2 in 2018.

Today, these satellites support television and radio broadcasting, high-speed internet, emergency communications, and a wide range of services - positioning Azerbaijan as an independent provider of telecommunications and information services both regionally and globally.