Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space in 1961.
On 12 April 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin launched aboard Vostok 1 from Baikonur Cosmodrome. His flight lasted 108 minutes and completed one orbit of Earth, reaching a maximum altitude of roughly 327 kilometres. Gagarin’s call sign was “Cedar,” and his famous report began with the phrase “Poyekhali!” meaning “Let’s go!”
The mission made Gagarin an international hero and marked a major milestone in the Space Race between the Soviet Union and the United States. Vostok 1 was largely automated because engineers were uncertain how a human would respond to weightlessness, although Gagarin received a code that allowed him to take manual control.
The flight followed the Soviet launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957 and preceded Alan Shepard’s first American human spaceflight by less than a month. Gagarin later died in a 1968 training flight accident.