Cosmonaut / Astronaut · SSSR · 1934–1968
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin
The first human in space. On 12 April 1961 he orbited the Earth aboard Vostok 1 and became a symbol of the Soviet space program.
NationalitySSSR
Born9 March 1934
Died27 March 1968
Spaceflights1
FACTS
•The first human in space (12 April 1961) — his single orbit of the Earth took 108 minutes.
•During the return he ejected from the capsule and parachuted down separately from the Vostok spacecraft.