Who was the first human to travel into space?

Who was the first human to travel into space? Yuri Gagarin was the first human to reach space. The Soviet cosmonaut launched aboard Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961, from Baikonur Cosmodrome in what is now Kazakhstan.

Gagarin completed one orbit of Earth in a flight lasting 108 minutes from launch to landing. His achievement gave the Soviet Union a major early victory in the Space Race and demonstrated that a person could survive launch, weightlessness and reentry. His radio call sign was “Kedr,” meaning cedar.

A common mix-up is confusing Gagarin with Neil Armstrong, who became the first person to walk on the Moon in 1969. John Glenn was the first American to orbit Earth, doing so in February 1962. Gagarin did not land inside his capsule: he ejected at about seven kilometers altitude and parachuted separately to the ground, a detail that does not change his status as the first human in space.