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Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (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.
- Valentina Ivanovna Gagarina
Valentina Gagarina and her husband astronaut Yuri Gagarin in...
- Death of Yuri Gagarin
On March 27, 1968, Yuri Gagarin, the first man to go into...
- Funeral of Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir Seryogin
The funeral of Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir Seryogin on 29–30...
- Grigory Nelyubov
The following year, six of the original twenty were...
- Yuri Gagarin (Band)
Yuri Gagarin is a rock band from Gothenburg, Sweden. Formed...
- Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (tiếng Nga: Ю́рий Алексе́евич...
- Valentina Ivanovna Gagarina
Apr 29, 2024 · Yuri Gagarin, Soviet cosmonaut who on April 12, 1961, became the first man to travel into space. His Vostok 1 spacecraft orbited Earth once in 1 hour 29 minutes at a maximum altitude of 187 miles, bringing Gagarin immediate worldwide fame. Learn more about Gagarin in this article.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- 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
Feb 9, 2010 · April | 12. Choose another date. 1961. Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space. On April 12, 1961, aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich...
- Missy Sullivan
Apr 12, 2021 · So it was that on April 12, 1961, Vostok 1 lifted Yuri Gagarin into space, the first human being to travel there. His orbit, which lasted for an hour and 48 minutes ,...
Apr 12, 2016 · Learn about the first man in space, his achievements, challenges and mysterious plane crash in 1968. Find out the truth behind the accident, revealed by a declassified report and a cosmonaut friend.
Apr 12, 2021 · Learn about the life and legacy of Yuri Gagarin, the Russian cosmonaut who orbited the Earth in 1961 and became the first human in space. Discover how he won the space race against America and why he was banned from visiting the US.
