Gagarin in Britain

In celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the first manned space flight and the unveiling on the Mall of a statue of the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, the British Council is holding an exhibition about the life of the Russian Cosmonaut and the early Soviet space programme. On show are photographs of Gagarin, posters from the Museum of Cosmonautics, a film showing footage of the early training programme and the 1961 launch of Vostok-1 which, travelling at a speed of 27,400 kilometres per hour, orbited the earth in 108 minutes. There's also a model of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite in the world, an array of space food and a space suit worn by one of the dogs used prior to man's first spaceflight to test the capacity of living creatures in space.Entry is by tour – places are limited to 20 people and must be registered in advance by email.