Public address speakers broadcasting in Moscow, 1961. The photograph shows a street scene in Moscow in April 1961, when news of Yuri Gagarin’s historic space flight was announced over public loudspeakers.

Foreground: A lamp post with speakers, the type used throughout the Soviet Union for broadcasting public announcements. From them came what was likely the distinctive voice of Yuri Levitan, who announced the first manned space flight.

Background: A busy plaza with trolleybuses, the typical transport vehicles of Soviet Moscow, and passersby.

Atmosphere: A mixture of everyday life and great national enthusiasm – the people are experiencing one of the greatest moments in Soviet space history.

The photograph captures the historic moment when all of Moscow learned of Gagarin’s flight, showing how the public was informed through loudspeakers in the urban landscape – a typical element of the Soviet era.