On October 15, 2012, a monument to Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and US Astronaut John Glenn was unveiled in Houston. The opening ceremony, which was held near the Gragg Building in South Houston, was a ‘who is who’ event for the modern space exploration. The speakers and special guests at the event included Houston Mayor Annise Parker; NASA Administrator Charles Bolden; Russian Ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak; Galina Gagarina and Yuri Gagarin, daughter and grandson of Cosmonaut Gagarin; Dr. Oleg V. Kotov, Russian Air Force Colonel & Cosmonaut; Ruslan Bayramov, founder of the NGO Dialogue of Cultures – United World; Sophya Tabarovsky, head of the NGO Kindness without Limits; and Nikolai Mikhailov, Regional Director for the Americas of the Russkiy Mir Foundation.
“Our manned space program started out in this building,” Houston Mayor Mayor Annise Parker noted, reflecting on the history of the site. “The previous mayor launched a restoration of this building, because we wanted to make sure that we saved it for future use. But more importantly, we wanted to make sure that this important piece of our history was preserved for the future.”
Mayor Parker also noted: “Too many Houstonians have lost the history of what has happened over the years in Houston. We are a city that always looks forward, that looks to the new. But we are also a city with deep and rich history in many areas, and most especially in human spaceflight. The city of Houston knows this building as the headquarters of the Houston parks department, and historians may know it as the Gragg Building. But real historians and those who are passionate about the history of the space program in Houston know this building as the first headquarters for human spaceflight (in the U.S.A.).”
Russian donors had at first offered just the Gagarin sculpture. Parker said she asked the Russians to also donate the Glenn monument to signify the current spirit of cooperation between the countries.
Former shuttle astronaut, now NASA Administrator, Charles Bolden said Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and Astronaut John Glenn helped turn science fiction into science fact, and laid the foundation for a half-century of cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union. “Who would've believed 50 years ago, at the start of the space race, that today Americans and Russians would be working side-by-side on the International Space Station, and standing in partnership to meet challenges of the future.”
Alexander Darchev of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the accomplishments of Gagarin and Glenn 50 years ago were challenging and heroic, and helped blaze the trail of space travel that's now almost routine. “The monument inaugurated today will stand as a token of cooperation between our countries, in exploring space for the benefit for all people with the prospect of deeper discoveries of the universe, and even going beyond the limits of the solar system.”
Galina Gagarin, the cosmonaut’s daughter, said through a translator: “We hope that this composition will contribute to the further successful cooperation between the Russian and American peoples. And the characters of two brave young men, Yuri Gagarin and John Glenn, will inspire further generations.”
The artwork of Cosmonaut Gagarin reaching toward space is a 9' tall bronze statue created by Russian artist Alexei Leonov. The artwork for Astronaut Glenn is an 8' 6" by 17' steel panel with an image of him in his Friendship 7 Mercury spacecraft. Houston artist Randy Twaddle and architect Ron Witte have collaborated on the design and fabrication of the Glenn artwork. Installation of the artworks is being overseen by the Houston Arts Alliance, Metalab and TY Art. The gift of the artworks is being made possible by the Moscow-based International Charity Public Fund Dialogue of Cultures – United World and the Russkiy Mir Foundation.
Photos from the event can be found here.
