Vostok 1 carried Yuri Gagarin on the first human spaceflight on 12 April 1961.
The Soviet spacecraft completed one orbit of Earth during a flight lasting 108 minutes. Gagarin launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in what was then the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. His radio call sign was “Cedar,” and his successful mission made him an international symbol of the Space Race.
Vostok 1 was part of the Soviet Vostok programme, which developed the technology needed to send people into orbit and return them safely. The spacecraft was largely automated because engineers were uncertain how a person might behave in weightlessness.
A common mix-up is confusing Vostok 1 with Vostok 2, which carried Gherman Titov on a much longer flight later in 1961. Gagarin did not land inside the capsule; he ejected and parachuted separately before reaching the ground.