On the eve of the 50th Anniversary of the first manned space flight, Elena Gagarina, Yuri Gagarin’s elder daughter, gives an extremely rare interview to Andrea Rose, Director of Visual Arts at the British Council, about the private life of her father, the first man in space.

On 14 July, Elena will be coming to London to unveil a statue of her father, Yuri Gagarin, outside the British Council offices on the Mall. The statue is a gift from the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, to the British Council and will stand near the statue of the great British explorer, Captain James Cook.

As Director of the Kremlin Museum, Elena Gagarina is working with the Henry Moore Foundation and British Council on an exhibition of Henry Moore’s work at the Kremlin Museum from February 2012.

Read a transcript of this interview at http://blog.britishcouncil.org/2011/04/gagarin_orbit1/