The establishment of monument to Yuri Gagarin was timed to the 55th anniversary of the first human space flight - the achievement of the Soviet Union, recognized by the whole world. The monument itself is a gift of the International Public Charitable Foundation «The Dialogue of Cultures – is the United World» to the museum with the support of the Embassy of Russia and the Mission of Rossotrudnichestvo in the United States.
The National Museum of Aviation and Cosmonautics in Washington, DC – is a part of famous Smithsonian Institution engaged in scientific and educational work. It has the world's best collection of aerospace engineering and receives hundreds of thousands of visitors annually. The bust of Gagarin in the museum – has already been the second memorial to the first cosmonaut of mankind, established in the USA: Yuri Gagarin appeared in the Adler Planetarium in Chicago earlier, and in the Museum of Aviation and Cosmonautics in New-York, and one more memorial was established near the historic building of NASA headquarters in Houston.
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The first manned space flight on low Earth orbit, performed the 12th of April of 1961 by the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, became the landmark event, including the United States, where the first space flight was committed by the astronaut Alan Shepard three weeks later, the 5th of May of 1961.