April 12, 1961: First human in space, Yuri Gagarin

William Atkins
Saturday, 12 April 2008 20:15

Science - Space

Forty-seven years ago, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin inside his Vostok 1 spacecraft was launched from the U.S.S.R. to become the first human to enter outer space. Celebrate "Yuri's Night" on April 12th.


At about 6:07 a.m. Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), Gagarin’s capsule entered orbit about the Earth. Gagarin’s trip into space lasted just over one orbit around the Earth—a length of approximately 108 minutes, with one orbit being 89.34 minutes.

Gagarin was inserted into a 105 by 196 mile (169 by 315 kilometer) orbit with an inclination of about 65 degrees.

Gagarin’s capsule, Vostok 1 (nicknamed "the Swallow" and with call sign "Siberian Pine"), which in English means “Orient 1” or “East 1,” was the first spacecraft to be inhabited by a human in space, along with the first spacecraft (and human) to orbit about the Earth.

Vostok 1 (Vostok 3KA-3) was one of a series of Vostok 3KA spacecraft that were launched by the Soviet Union from the Baikonur Cosmodrome (launch pad LC1) using Vostok 8K72K launch vehicles.

At 7:35 UTC, Vostok 1 begins to re-enter the Earth's atmoshere.

At 7:55 UTC, Gagarin is ejected from his Vostok capsule and continues to descend through the Earth's atmosphere with the use of a parachute.

At 8:05 UTC, Gagarin lands about (26 kilometers) southwest of Engels, Sarataov Region (Saratov Oblast, located in the Volga Federal District, with its center the city of Saratov).

The first Vostok mission was an unmanned flight on March 8, 1961 and the last one was Vostok 6 on June 16, 1963, which carried the first woman in space, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.

Additional information about Yuri Gagarin is found on the next page.