In the centre, a little to the left denomination of the coin: the figure 2 and words under it RUBLES and BANK OF RUSSIA written horizontal, below along the rim and on the right part of the disc the stylized vegetable ornament (vine sprig) in form of a branch with two interwoven caulescents, to the right at the rim the mintmark (if any).

Depicts a portrait of Yuri Gagarin, below the facsimile signature GAGARIN, to the right the inscription in two lines APRIL 12, 1961.

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (1934–1968) was a Russian Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on 12 April 1961.

Gagarin became an international celebrity and was awarded many medals and titles, including Hero of the Soviet Union, the nation's highest honour. Vostok 1 marked his only spaceflight, but he served as backup crew to the Soyuz 1 mission (which ended in a fatal crash). Gagarin later became deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre outside Moscow, which was later named after him. Gagarin died in 1968 when the MiG-15 training jet he was piloting crashed.

Artist: A. V. Baklanov
Sculptors: A. A. Dolgopolova, A. V. Baklanov