Russia Accuses U.S. State Department of ‘Memory Loss’ Over First Man in Space Yuri Gagarin

Russia Accuses U.S. State Department of ‘Memory Loss’ Over First Man in Space Yuri Gagarin

Russian officials have continued to criticise the U.S. state department on social media this week after the agency did not mention cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in a Facebook post about "International Day of Human Space Flight.""Regrettably, the US State Department has again demonstrated memory loss regarding the history of space exploration," the Embassy of Russia in the USA said in a statement on Monday, accusing the state department "distorting the memory" of Gagarin.In its earlier Facebook update, the U.S. agency had said the date marked "technological advances space exploration brings and the international cooperation it fosters," without noting Gagarin's well-documented achievements in Soviet-era space flight.International Day of Human Space Flight is on April 12, which was the same date that Gagarin carried out the first-ever human space flight back in 1961.The Russian embassy's social media post in response to the apparent snub continued: "Our forgetful colleagues can find the bust of the space pioneer at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C." It added: "Sculptures of Yuri Gagarin also were erected in Cleveland, Colorado Springs, New York City, Houston and Chicago."The head of Russia's space agency Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, fumed in response to the state department on Monday: "A**holes.