Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into space during the Vostok 1 mission on 12 April 1961.
Gagarin launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Vostok-K rocket. His spacecraft completed one orbit of Earth, reaching a maximum altitude of about 327 kilometers. The flight lasted 108 minutes from launch to landing.
Because Vostok 1’s landing system was not designed for Gagarin to touch down inside the capsule, he ejected at roughly seven kilometers above the ground and descended by parachute. Soviet reports initially emphasized the mission as a capsule landing, but the ejection detail was later openly documented.
Alan Shepard was the first American in space, but his Freedom 7 flight was suborbital. John Glenn later became the first American to orbit Earth, while Gherman Titov became the second person to orbit Earth.