Vostok 1 - 1st man in space
04/12/1961 AD launched
The USSR surprised the world by launching Yuri Gagarin into a single, 108-minute orbit around the Earth in a craft called Vostok 1.
They dubbed Gagarin the first cosmonaut, roughly translated from Russian and Greek as "sailor of the universe". Gagarin's capsule was flown in automatic mode, since doctors did not know what would happen to a human in the weightlessness of space; but Gagarin was given an envelope containing the code that would unlock manual control in an emergency.
Gagarin's flight was a triumph for the Soviet space program and he became a national hero of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc, as well as a worldwide celebrity. Newspapers around the globe published his biography and details of his flight.
He was escorted in a long motorcade of high-ranking officials through the streets of Moscow to the Kremlin where, in a lavish ceremony, Nikita Khrushchev awarded him the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Other cities in the Soviet Union also held mass demonstrations, the scale of which were second only to the World War II Victory Parades.
Gagarin gained a reputation as an adept public figure and was noted for his charismatic smile.
Lattitude: 45.965° N
Longitude: 63.305° E
Region: Russia and Eastern Bloc
Modern Day Kazakhstan
Subjects Who or What launched?
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Soviet Union (USSR) The Union of Soviet ...
Objects To Whom or What was launched?
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Yuri Gagarin Soviet pilot and cosmona... -
Vostok (Восток) The Vostok programme...
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