Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/April 12
April 12: Cosmonautics Day in Russia, Yuri's Night.
- 467 - Anthemius became Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
- 1927 - Chinese Civil War: A large-scale purge of communists from the nationalist Kuomintang began in Shanghai.
- 1961 - Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to enter outer space, completing one orbit in a time of 108 minutes.
- 1980 - Terry Fox dipped his artificial leg in the Atlantic Ocean at St. John's, Newfoundland, and began running his Marathon of Hope towards the Pacific Ocean at Vancouver, British Columbia to raise funds across Canada for cancer research.
- 1981 - Columbia, the first space shuttle, was launched from the John F. Kennedy Space Center for its first flight (pictured), the first US manned space mission in six years.