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

William Atkins
Saturday, 12 April 2008 21:15

Science - Space

Soviet cosmonaut and pilot Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (born: March 9, 1934—died March 27, 1968) was the first human to go into space and the first human to orbit the Earth.

Additional information about Gagarin is found at the website “The First To Fly,” by Colin Burgess.

A detailed Astronautix biography of Yuri Gagarin appears at “Gagarin.”

The March 28, 1968 obituary of Yuri Gagarin appears in the New York Times/United Press website “Yuri Gagarin Killed As Test Plane Falls.”

On April 12 of every year, people from around the world celebrate “Yuri's Night”—a celebration of the first flight of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and the first launch of the NASA space shuttle, STS-1 and space shuttle Columbia, on April 12, 1981.