50th anniv of the first manned space flight and we got a chance to fly into space that day!

       What a flight into space!

       And this was one of the best gits ``Beyond Moon and Mars (BMM)'' could get to mark the 50th anniversary of the first manned space flight by Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 2011.

       BMM has always dreamn't about space exploration since childhood. But to see earth from space for the very first time and that too on the very day man first flew into space is something extremely significant and memorable for it.

      But hold it folks!  Do you think that BMM really flew into space on April 12,2011? No. Far from it.

      The truth is BMM flew into space while watching the nearly two hour masterpiece produced by Christopher Rilay called ``First Orbit,'' which commemorates the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's flight on Tuesday and it premiered on Youtube the same day.

      The superb film produces a realistic feeling that you are actually flying in space. So those of us who perhaps will never get a chance to go into space should see this great film. The photography was done by an astronaut on board the International Space Station (ISS)  by, Paulo Nespoli.

     The film was made by matching the orbital path of the space station as closely as possible to that of Gagarin's Vostok-1 spacecraft. According to the makers, Nespoli filmed the same vistas of the earth through the giant cupola window of the space station.

     In in interview Riley has been quoted as saying that it was a disappointment that Gagarin did not have any pictures of his flight. So, this project.

     Nespoli said that initially he thought it was a bizarre idea. ``But, more I thought of it, it turned out to be interesting. Filming in space was more challenging than on earth mainly because of the microgravity. We had a challenge here (space station), because it is very busy at the space station. So, I had to find time to do the filming and at the end it became a very interesting project,'' he said.

    Riley said that the film needed music. ``At the other end of the space station, another astronaut, Candy Coleman, was listening to the score we wanted and Nespoli was filming at another end. We had to get them to together,'' he has been quoted as saying. The music is composed by Philip Sheppard and is from the albus Cloud Songs.

    The film is enriched by the fact that it has original audio of the conversation between Gagarin and the ground station. ``We blended the audio and the visuals by working thru the weekend,'' Riley said. For the audio, the makers interacted with Nato, the Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos, the European Space Agency and the British Council.

     BMM has requested Pradeep Mohandas, its good friend and secy of the India chapter of the Moon Society to transfer the film into a cd and give it.

    Once BMM gets this cd be sure it will be seeing it any number of times.

    What a great film and tribute to Gagarin.

    Once again--it is a super gift for the 50th anniv of the first manned space flight.