Valentina Tereshkova

In Ukraine's westernmost city of Lviv, a statue of the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, sprawls on the ground, red paint splashed around her helmet.

The region bordering the European Union claims it was the first in Ukraine to topple all its Soviet monuments, in a nationwide ouster of symbols glorifying Kremlin rule.

Today, April 12, marks exactly 60 years since the first manned flight into space, a significant event in the history of our planet. Exactly 60 years ago, the famous Gagarin's "Poehali" ("Let's go!") flew around the world, and radio stations from different parts of the world interrupted their programs to broadcast this sensational news.

Russia and China unveiled plans on March 9 for a joint lunar space station, as Moscow seeks to recapture the glory of its space pioneering days of Soviet times, and Beijing gears up its own extraterrestrial ambitions.