Yuri Gagarin

Colonel Yuri Gagarin became the first human to fly in space when he orbited the Earth in 1961.

Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin was born on a collective farm in Smolensk, west of Moscow in March 1934. His father was a carpenter.

After attending his local school for six years and then various technical schools, Yuri joined the Russian Air Force in 1955. He graduated with honours from the Soviet Air Force Academy in 1957 and became a military fighter pilot. In 1959 he was selected for training as part of the first group of Soviet cosmonauts.

Yuri Gagarin flew his only space mission, when April 12, 1961, aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1, he became the first human to orbit Earth . He circled Earth at a speed of 27,400 km/per hour. The flight lasted 108 minutes and Gagarin reached a height of about 327 kilometres above Earth.

Although Gagarin had no control of the spacecraft, a key was placed in a sealed envelope in case an emergency situation made it necessary for him to take control.

The Vostok’s re-entry was controlled by a computer program sending radio commands to the space capsule. As planned, Cosmonaut Gagarin ejected from the capsule and landed by parachute.

Colonel Yuri Gagarin died on March 27, 1968 when the MiG-15 he was piloting crashed near Moscow. At the time of his death, Yuri Gagarin was in training for the Soyuz 3 mission.