A Russian Soyuz TMA-21 rocket with an international space crew of a US astronaut Ron Garan, Russian cosmonaut Alexander Samokutyayev and Andrei Borisenko blasts off from a Russian leased Kazakh Baikonur cosmodrome to the International Space Station on April 5, 2011.
Tuesday's launch was seven days shy of the anniversaries of Gagarin's flight into orbit in 1961 from the same launch pad as well as the first flight of the U.S. space shuttle 20 years later.
Speaking to reporters prior to the emotion-laden launch, Garan noted how much space flight has changed since Gagarin was launched during the space race between the two Cold War superpowers.
"Fifty years ago, one nation launched one man, basically as a competition," he said. "Today, the three of us represent the many nations of the international partnership that makes up the International Space Station."