Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin

Yuri Gagarin (1934 – 1968) – First Person Into Space

On 12 April 1961, Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into space in Vostok 3KA-2 (Vostok 1).

After the flight, Gagarin became an instant, worldwide celebrity, touring widely to promote the Soviet achievement. He proved quite adept at handling the publicity.

Like John Glenn, Gagarin was considered too valuable to his country to risk in an another space flight, and was grounded from future space missions. Gagarin eventually became deputy training director of Star City, the Russian equivalent of Cape Kennedy and Johnson Space Center combined. At the same time, he began to requalify as a fighter pilot. On 27 March 1968 he and his instructor died in a MiG-15 UTI on a routine training flight near Kirzhach.

Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин (9 марта 1934, Клушино, Гжатский (ныне Гагаринский) район, Западная область, СССР — 27 марта 1968, возле села Новосёлово, Киржачский район, Владимирская область, СССР) — советский лётчик-космонавт, Герой Советского Союза, кавалер высших знаков отличия ряда государств, почётный гражданин многих российских и зарубежных городов.
12 апреля 1961 года Юрий Гагарин стал первым человеком в мировой истории, совершившим полёт в космическое пространство.