April 12 in Russian history

1861: The "Decree of foundation of the Alexander's hospital for the working people in St. Petersburg in memory of February 19, 1861" is issued.

1881: The emperor Alexander III proclaims freedom for all citizens to enter and leave Russia. This freedom was taken away again by bolsheviks and was restored again only in 1993 due to the efforts of president of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev and Anatoly Sobchak, member of Duma and mayor of St. Petersburg. Now, some political groups, proponents of political isolation of Russia, demand to limit this freedom again.

1911: The first Russian aeronatical congress begins in St.Petersburg. It was organized by the VII (Aeronatical) department of the Imperial Russian Technical Society. Among the participants were the navy minister vice-admiral Grigorovich, admiral Rykachev, general-major Korsakevich, other navy officers, state and local self-government officials, members of technical and sports societies and clubs. At the same time, the aeronatical exhibition was taking place. The newspaper "Moskovskie Vedomosti" wrote: "Due to the extreme importance of aeronatics in general and especially for Russia, the aeronatical congress deserves the most serious attention." During the congress, the participants discussed certain models of aeroplanes and engines, promising technologies, technical solutions, importance of aeronatics for the Russian army and navy, organizational problems. The police, as usual, had their own opinion. They welcomed the development of the aviation and its use in the military, but they were also worried by possible use of aeroplanes in criminal and political purposes. They proposed to put aeroplanes and their pilots under surveillance and introduce registration of all pilots. In February, 1911, the police ordered the governors and mayors of the cities to close the aeronatical clubs if their aeroplanes were used by political activists to spread leaflets. In summer, 1910, the police refused to register the "Students' Aeroleague of St.Petersburg", saying that "the low membership fee may lead to the formation of a union of all students in St.Petersburg."

1961: At 9:07 a.m. (6:07 a.m. UTC), spacecraft Vostok was launched to space by carrier Vostok-K. This was the first manned space mission in history. Yuri Gagarin made one orbit around the Earth and safely landed at 10:55 a.m. (7:55 a.m. UTC). The USSR became the world leader in manned space flights. The advantage of the USSR was so huge that Russia still retains this leading position. Huge experience in long-term space missions, space medicine, construction and support of orbital stations, including cargo ships, simple and effective solutions allowed Russia to support the ISS during the years when the American space shuttles were grounded due to the tragedy with Columbia. By the way, recently some new articles describing Gagarin's flight were published. One such article from the magazine "News of Cosmonautics", "Truth about Gagarin's return" (in Russian), pedantically lists the problems taking place during the flight. During the backfire impulse, a valve did not close. The leakage caused unplanned loss of fuel. The lack of fuel made the engine to stop about 0.5 seconds earlier than it was planned and the spacecraft was flying with the speed of 132 m/sec instead of 136 m/sec. Because the engine was down, the control system failed to issue the shutdown command and the armature of the backfire engine did not fold as it should. This led to the rotation of the spacecraft with the speed of 30° per second and the landing module did not separate from the spacecraft. And yet, multiple reduplication of control systems and sensors provided alternative ways to initiate the separation. The heat sensors triggered the alternative separation procedure and the landing was normal. B. Raushenbach, a member of Russian Academy of Sciences, said once: "If cars were made with the same level of reliability as our satellites are made, they would have wheels from all sides and any spatial position of the car would be regarded as normal."

February 19 in Russian history

1861: Emperor Alexander II signs the decree on the abolition of serfdom. The serfdom became a heavy burden in Russia in XVIII century, when the peasants lost the last remains of freedom they still had. Since then, many Russian rulers attempted to abolish the serfdom. Catherine II, being a friend of Voltaire, of course, planned to liberalize the Russian legislation, but she was not too consistent, under the stress from her advisors. The same may be said about Alexander I. The reform of Alexander II was only partial. Moreover, the peasants did not understand the new laws and the rumors were spreading that the "real" law which gives them full freedom, was stolen by the landlords. Mutinies followed. Anyway, however partial, the reforms became the basis for the next steps, including the formation of the elected bodies of local self-government, educational, military and legal reforms.

1938: The drifting polar research station "Severny Polyus-1", the first drifting polar station in the world, finishes its odyssey. The station was founded in 1937 by Ivan Papanin (head of the expedition and cook, Pyotr Shirshov (hydrobiologist), Evgeny Fyodorov (astronomer) and Ernest Krenkel (radio engineer). The exploration of the Arctic Ocean was necessary to provide the reliability of the Northern Sea Route. To make it possible, a state organization was founded and, as one author put it, "the people who came to the North after reading too many Jack London stories, became a part of a huge state machine." The possibility of life on the drifting ice was proven by the crew of steamship Chelyuskin 13 years earlier. So, on May 21, 1937, the four expedition members landed on ice near the Northern Pole. The expedition became yet another "victory of communism" and the life of the station was heavily politicized. All four expedition members were elected members of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR while working on the station. In spite of this ideological burden, the scientific input of the expedition was also immense. They made meteorological observations, measured the polar currents, magnetic fields and so on. See the photographs from "Severny Polyus-1" here.

1954: On the 300th anniversary of the Pereyaslav Rada and the re-unification of Ukraine and Russia, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopts the decree on the transfer of Crimea from Russian Federation to Ukraine. Khrushchev spent many years in Ukraine and the transfer of Crimea was his gift to the republic he loved. Nobody knew, of course, that 40 years later Ukraine will be a separate country.