First Man In Space

Following the end of the second world war in 1945. The USSR and the United states entered into a massive race to put the first person into space.

The United States began work on their Mercury projects while the USSR developed its Vostok fleet of space ships.

In April 1957 the USSR launched its first artificial satellite Sputnik 1.

Then in 1960 a search was mounted to find the first Russian to be launched into space.

27 year old major Yuri Gagarin was selected, along with 19 other cosmonauts.

Although doubt remains as to whether he was actually the first human in space. Recent evidence has found that at least three other Russian cosmonauts died while attempting it in 1957, 58 and 1959.

But on 12th April 1960 Gagarin climbed into his Vostok 1 Space craft at the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan.

His 38m tall Vostok was launched into a single orbit around the earth lasting for 1 hour 48 minutes at a height of 315 km.

Unlike the early American space flights that landed in water, Russian craft where designed to parachute onto dry land.

Gagarin ejected from his capsule just before touchdown in the Saratova region of Russia.

His eventual landing was witnessed by a farmer and her two daughters.

Yuri Gagarin was killed in an airplane accident on 27 March 1968.

A Hero of the soviet union.