On the 16th of April the Malaysian National Planetarium in Kuala Lumpur was host to a gala evening entitled “Yuri’s Night” in honour of Y.A. Gagarin – the culminating event of the “Gagarin Festival” which took place in Malaysia. The festival was dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the first manned flight to space by our great compatriot.

The festival’s program was a mutual project jointly prepared by representatives of Rossotrudnichestvo, Malaysia’s National Space Agency and the National Planetarium, to be performed from the 1st to 30th of April. Within this period a memorable campaign in honour of Y.A. Gagarin took place at the Russian Cultural Centre as well as other locations. At the National Planetarium, visitors could watch a multimedia presentation and documental films about Y.A. Gagarin as well as listen to songs from the “Gagarin Constellation” cycle by A. Pakhmutova on a daily basis. There was also an extensive photo exhibition featuring Earth’s first cosmonaut and other leading Russian space pioneers.

The gala evening on the 16th boasted a guest list of important figures from the directors of the Malaysian space program, Malaysian scientific and research institutions, the intelligentsia and young members of the public. The event was launched by the director of the National Space Agency Mustafa Subari and the Russian Federation’s ambassador to Malaysia L.G. Vorob’eva. Each of them emphasized in their speech the outstanding contribution made by Y.A. Gagarin to the history of space exploration. Mustafa Subari with warm sincerity thanked Russia for its cooperation in lending Malaysia a helping hand in the assimilation of space exploration, especially in providing Sheikh Muzaffar, Malaysia’s first astronaut, a historical flight to space in 2007.

Also present at the event was the Malaysian astronaut Faiz Khaleed, who underwent in 2007 a thorough preparatory course in Russia for space flight onboard the Russian spacecraft “Soyuz-TM-10”. He recalled the time spent in hard work during his space flight training under the guidance of Russian specialists. The words “Zvyozdny Gorodok” (Star City) and “Korolyov” were pronounced by him like a true Russian.

A colourful concert program was performed for the guests by students from various Malaysian institutions and secondary school participants from the different corners of Malaysia. There were poetic compositions, musical numbers as well as theatrical scenes. The participants went with their performances with much sincerity and respect towards our great compatriot.

A presentation of Russian national dance-musical art by students of the Russian school in the Russian embassy was well awarded by applause. The Malaysian youth took many photographs with their Russian peers among the Gagarin exhibition.