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Apr 12, 2021 · It has been 60 years since a Russian cosmonaut called Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space. He completed a full orbit of the Earth on 12 April 1961 on-board the spacecraft Vostok 1. It ...
- Yuri Gagarin: Who was the first person in space?
It has been 60 years since a Russian cosmonaut called Yuri...
- Yuri Gagarin: Who was the first person in space?
6 days ago · Order of Lenin. Yuri Gagarin (born March 9, 1934, near Gzhatsk, Russia, U.S.S.R. [now Gagarin, Russia]—died March 27, 1968, near Moscow) was a Soviet cosmonaut who in 1961 became the first man to travel into space. The son of a carpenter on a collective farm, Gagarin graduated as a molder from a trade school near Moscow in 1951.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
e. Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin[a][b] (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who, aboard the first successful crewed spaceflight, became the first human to journey into outer space. Travelling on Vostok 1, Gagarin completed one orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961, with his flight taking 108 minutes.
- Childhood and Cosmonaut Selection
- Vostok 1 Mission
- Soyuz 1 and Death
- Additional Resources
Gagarin was born on March 9, 1934, in the Soviet Russian village of Klushino to parents who worked on a collective farm, according to the European Space Agency (ESA). Beginning in October 1941, German soldiers occupied Klushino as part of their advance on Moscow during World War II. The occupation lasted 21 months, according to the BBC. In 1946, hi...
"Vostok" means "East" in Russian, as opposed to the Western world, signifying the mission's importance in the Cold War-era space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. The crewed part of the capsule was spherical, with an inside diameter of about 7 feet (2 m), according to The Planetary Society. The spacecraft launched on April 12, 19...
On April 23, 1967, the Soyuz 1 mission launched with cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov as its sole crewmember, with Gagarin as the backup. During the spacecraft's landing, the parachute failed to deploy, instantly killing Komarov when it hit the ground. Though Gagarin had nothing to do with the crash (and even reportedly tried to get the launch postponed ...
You can learn more about the first man in space with these pieces from Scientific American and Astronomy.com. Space Center Houston's on this day in historydetails Gagarin's historic flight to space.
- 4 min
- Rebecca Sohn
Apr 12, 2021 · It has been 60 years since a Russian cosmonaut called Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space. He completed a full orbit of the Earth on 12 April 1961 on-board the spacecraft Vostok 1. It ...
It's sixty years since the first human blasted into space.For the Soviet Union, Yuri Gagarin’s single orbit of the Earth was a huge achievement and propagand...
- 3 min
- 584.9K
- BBC News
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Nov 3, 2023 · Yuri Gagarin from the Soviet Union was the first human in space. His vehicle, Vostok 1 circled Earth at a speed of 27,400 kilometers per hour with the flight lasting 108 minutes. Vostok's reentry was controlled by a computer. Unlike the early US human spaceflight programs, Gagarin did not land inside of capsule. Instead, he ejected from the….
