Russian benefactors are bestowing upon Houston a bronze statue of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, his arms stretched toward the heavens, as a tribute in Space City USA to the first man to orbit the Earth.
Mayor Annise Parker and NASA executives will attend the monument’s launching slated for June 21.
The bronze statue was designed by Russian sculptor Alexei Leonov – a namesake of the legendary Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, the first man to walk in space.
http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_06_08/77456793/