Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space when the Soviet spacecraft Vostok 1 launched on 12 April 1961.
Gagarin completed one orbit of Earth in 108 minutes before landing in the Soviet Union. His radio call “Poyekhali!” (“Let’s go!”) became famous, and he was promoted from military pilot to international symbol of the space age. The flight reached an apogee of about 327 kilometres.
Gagarin’s mission preceded the first American orbital flight by John Glenn in February 1962. Alan Shepard had become the first American in space in May 1961, but his Mercury-Redstone flight was suborbital. Gagarin died in 1968 during a routine training flight of a MiG-15UTI fighter. Russia and many countries commemorate 12 April as Cosmonautics Day or Yuri’s Night.