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Inside Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center

The history of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center begins in 1960 when it was decided to establish a first-ever training facility to prepare people for space voyages

The Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC) is a Russian facility responsible for training cosmonauts for their space missions. It is located in Star City, known in Russia as Zvezdniy Gorodok, a closed town 50 km from Moscow, where the legendary cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin trained for the first human spaceflight. The center is run by the Russian Federal Space Agency. 

The history of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center begins on 11th of January 1960 when it was decided to establish a first-ever training facility intended to prepare people for space voyages. The center has seen a lot of outstanding and exciting events afterwards: from the flight of the first female cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova to the first spacewalk by Alexey Leonov.