Yuri Gagarin was the first person to fly in space. His flight, on April 12, 1961, lasted 108 minutes as he circled the Earth for a little more than one orbit in the Soviet Union's Vostok spacecraft. Following the flight, Gagarin became a cultural hero in the Soviet Union. Even today, more than six decades after the historic flight, Gagarin is widely celebrated in Russian space museums, with numerous artifacts, busts and statues displayed in his honor. His remains are buried at the Kremlin in Moscow, and part of his spacecraft is on display at the RKK Energiya museum. Gagarin's flight came at a time when the United States and the Soviet Union were competing for technological supremacy in space. The Soviet Union had already sent the first artificial satellite, called Sputnik, into space in October 1957. Before Gagarin's mission, the Soviets sent a test flight into space using a prototype of the Vostok spacecraft. During this flight, they sent a life-size dummy called Ivan Ivanovich and a dog named Zvezdochka into space. After the test flight, the Soviet's considered the vessel fit to take a human into space. [Infographic: How the First Human Spaceflight Worked] Becoming a legendary astronautThe third of four children, Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was born on March 9, 1934, in a small village a hundred miles from Moscow. As a teenager, Gagarin witnessed a Russian Yak fighter plane make an emergency landing near his home. When offered a chance years later to join a flying club, he eagerly accepted, making his first solo flight in 1955. Only a few years later, he submitted his request to be considered as a cosmonaut. [Photos: Yuri Gagarin & 50 Years of Human Spaceflight] More than 200 Russian Air Force fighter pilots were selected as cosmonaut candidates. Such pilots were considered optimal because they had exposure to the forces of acceleration and the ejection process, as well as experience with high-stress situations. Gagarin, a 27-year-old senior lieutenant at the time, was among the pilots selected. On April 12, 1961, at 9:07 a.m. Moscow time, the Vostok 1 spacecraft blasted off from the Soviets' launch site. Because no one was certain how weightlessness would affect a pilot, the spherical capsule had little in the way of onboard controls; the work was done either automatically or from the ground. If an emergency arose, Gagarin was supposed to receive an override code that would allow him to take manual control, but Sergei Korolev, chief designer of the Soviet space program, disregarded protocol and gave the code to the pilot prior to the flight. Over the course of 108 minutes, Vostok 1 traveled around the Earth once, reaching a maximum height of 203 miles (327 kilometers). The spacecraft carried 10 days' worth of provisions in case the engines failed and Gagarin was required to wait for the orbit to naturally decay. But the supplies were unnecessary. Gagarin re-entered Earth's atmosphere, managing to maintain consciousness as he experienced forces up to eight times the pull of gravity during his descent. Vostok 1 had no engines to slow its re-entry and no way to land safely. About 4 miles (7 km) up, Gagarin ejected from the spacecraft and parachuted to Earth. In order for the mission to be counted as an official spaceflight, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the governing body for aerospace records, had determined that the pilot must land with the spacecraft. Soviet leaders indicated that Gagarin had touched down with the Vostok 1, and they did not reveal that he had ejected until 1971. Regardless, Gagarin still set the record as the first person to leave Earth's orbit and travel into space. [Milestones in Human Spaceflight: Pictures] Gagarin's legacyUpon his return to Earth, Gagarin was an international hero. A cheering crowd of hundreds of thousands of people greeted him in Red Square, a public plaza in Moscow. A national treasure, Gagarin traveled around the world to celebrate the historic Soviet achievement. When he returned home, Gagarin became a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (the highest legislative body in the Soviet Union) and was appointed commander of the Cosmonauts' Detachment. Because the Soviets did not want to risk losing such an important public figure, they were hesitant about allowing Gagarin to return to space. He continued to make test flights for the Air Force, however. On March 27, 1968, Gagarin was killed (along with another pilot) while test-piloting a MiG-15, a jet fighter aircraft. He was survived by his wife, Valentina Ivanovna Goryacheva, and two daughters. NASA's Apollo 11, the first mission to put people on the moon, landed in July 1969, and the crew left behind a commemorative medallion bearing Gagarin's name. They also left medallions for other astronauts who lost their lives in space or while preparing for spaceflight. Over time, the U.S. and the Soviet Union began working together in their spaceflight endeavors. The first joint U.S.-Soviet spaceflight was in 1975, called Apollo-Soyuz. Following that, NASA sent several space shuttle astronauts to Soviet/Russian space station Mir after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The shuttle-Mir collaboration paved the way for NASA and the Russian space agency (Roscosmos) to become major partners in the International Space Station program, which first launched modules in 1998 and continues research today. Gagarin's importance in the Russian space program continues. Crews using the Soyuz spacecraft participate in a number of prelaunch traditions prior to climbing on to the spacecraft — such as urinating on the launch bus tires — to follow in the footsteps of Gagarin's historic flight. Beyond that, Gagarin is often held up as an example of character and heroism to younger children in Russia. The 60th anniversary of Gagarin's flight will be in 2021. The space community also commemorates Gagarin's achievement every year with Yuri's Night, a celebration that takes place on his launch date of April 12. Yuri's Night was founded in 2001 and attracts thousands of celebrants each year. This article was updated on Oct. 12, 2018 by Space.com Contributor, Elizabeth Howell. Editor's Note: This article was updated on Oct. 15, 2018 at 10:08 a.m. EDT to reflect a correction. The 60th anniversary of Gagarin's flight will be in 2021.
59 years ago, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin launched on a historic mission. He journeyed where no one had before and returned safely home. He had just become the first person to orbit the Earth. April 12, 1961, Gagarin became the first person in space, making a 108-minute orbital flight in his Vostok 1 spacecraft. The 27-year-old cosmonaut traveled 327 kilometers above the Earth and orbited the planet at a speed of 27,400 kilometers per hour. In honor of this historic accomplishment, we have gathered five fast facts about Gagarin and his flight for you to learn more about the first person in space. 1. Gagarin was one of the “Sochi Six,” a group of cosmonauts for the first Vostok missions.NASA had the “Mercury 7,” the Soviets had the “Sochi Six.” 2. Gagarin was not required to operate the Vostok 1.The effects of microgravity on the human body were not yet known, so the spacecraft was controlled by people on the ground, along with a computer program. 3. Gagarin didn’t land inside the Vostok 1.The Vostok 1 wasn’t designed to land, so as it plummeted toward the Earth, Gagarin ejected and parachuted down to safety. 4. Although he was the first person to fly into space, technically, Gagarin’s flight didn’t count as a spaceflight.Since Gagarin did not land inside his spacecraft, it didn’t count as a spaceflight in accordance with the regulations outlined by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). While the Soviets did not share this detail at the time, it was later discovered. 5. The first people on the Moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, left a medal of Yuri Gagarin behind.Out of mutual respect for Gagarin, the first people on the Moon left behind a medal of the man who led the way into the final frontier. To learn more about the first person in space, click here.
On April 12, 1961, aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin becomes the first human being to travel into space. During the flight, the 27-year-old test pilot and industrial technician also became the first man to orbit the planet, a feat accomplished by his space capsule in 89 minutes. Vostok 1 orbited Earth at a maximum altitude of 187 miles and was guided entirely by an automatic control system. The only statement attributed to Gagarin during his one hour and 48 minutes in space was, “Flight is proceeding normally; I am well.” After his historic feat was announced, the attractive and unassuming Gagarin became an instant worldwide celebrity. He was awarded the Order of Lenin and given the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Monuments were raised to him across the Soviet Union and streets renamed in his honor. The triumph of the Soviet space program in putting the first man into space was a great blow to the United States, which had scheduled its first space flight for May 1961. Moreover, Gagarin had orbited Earth, a feat that eluded the U.S. space program until February 1962, when astronaut John Glenn made three orbits in Friendship 7. By that time, the Soviet Union had already made another leap ahead in the “space race” with the August 1961 flight of cosmonaut Gherman Titov in Vostok 2. Titov made 17 orbits and spent more than 25 hours in space. READ MORE: What Really Happened to Yuri Gagarin, the First Man in Space? To Soviet propagandists, the Soviet conquest of space was evidence of the supremacy of communism over capitalism. However, to those who worked on the Vostok program and earlier on Sputnik (which launched the first satellite into space in 1957), the successes were attributable chiefly to the brilliance of one man: Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. Because of his controversial past, Chief Designer Korolev was unknown in the West and to all but insiders in the USSR until his death in 1966. Born in the Ukraine in 1906, Korolev was part of a scientific team that launched the first Soviet liquid-fueled rocket in 1933. In 1938, his military sponsor fell prey to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin’s purges, and Korolev and his colleagues were also put on trial. Convicted of treason and sabotage, Korolev was sentenced to 10 years in a labor camp. The Soviet authorities came to fear German rocket advances, however, and after only a year Korolev was put in charge of a prison design bureau and ordered to continue his rocketry work. In 1945, Korolev was sent to Germany to learn about the V-2 rocket, which had been used to devastating effect by the Nazis against the British. The Americans had captured the rocket’s designer, Wernher von Braun, who later became head of the U.S. space program, but the Soviets acquired a fair amount of V-2 resources, including rockets, launch facilities, blueprints, and a few German V-2 technicians. By employing this technology and his own considerable engineering talents, by 1954 Korolev had built a rocket that could carry a five-ton nuclear warhead and in 1957 launched the first intercontinental ballistic missile. That year, Korolev’s plan to launch a satellite into space was approved, and on October 4, 1957, Sputnik 1 was fired into Earth’s orbit. It was the first Soviet victory of the space race, and Korolev, still technically a prisoner, was officially rehabilitated. The Soviet space program under Korolev would go on to numerous space firsts in the late 1950s and early ’60s: first animal in orbit, first large scientific satellite, first man, first woman, first three men, first space walk, first spacecraft to impact the moon, first to orbit the moon, first to impact Venus, and first craft to soft-land on the moon. Throughout this time, Korolev remained anonymous, known only as the “Chief Designer.” His dream of sending cosmonauts to the moon eventually ended in failure, primarily because the Soviet lunar program received just one-tenth the funding allocated to America’s successful Apollo lunar landing program. Korolev died in 1966. Upon his death, his identity was finally revealed to the world, and he was awarded a burial in the Kremlin wall as a hero of the Soviet Union. Yuri Gagarin was killed in a routine jet-aircraft test flight in 1968. His ashes were also placed in the Kremlin wall. |