Which nation was the first to send a human into space?

The Soviet Union was the first nation to send a human into space.

Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made the historic flight aboard Vostok 1 on 12 April 1961. His spacecraft completed one orbit of Earth in about 108 minutes before landing in the Soviet Union. Gagarin’s radio call “Poyekhali!”—often translated as “Let’s go!”—became associated with the beginning of human spaceflight.

The flight was a major achievement in the Cold War space race. Gagarin launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and reached an altitude of roughly 327 kilometers. Because the Vostok capsule could not land softly with a person inside, he ejected and parachuted separately during descent.

The United States followed with Alan Shepard’s suborbital flight on 5 May 1961. John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth in February 1962. The Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, but Gagarin’s mission remains a milestone of its space program.