The Vostok program in the Soviet Union kicked off human space travel by sending Yuri Gagarin into space on April 12, 1961, aboard Vostok 1. This mission made Gagarin a worldwide celebrity and gave the USSR an early win in the space race against the United States. Sergei Korolev, the main designer of the Soviet space program, led the Vostok effort. Vostok 1 was a round capsule that weighed about 4.73 tons and took off on an R-7 rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Gagarin’s flight lasted 108 minutes, during which he went around the Earth once, reaching about 327 kilometers high. Gagarin didn’t have much control over the spacecraft, as it was mostly automated.
For safety, he ejected from the capsule during reentry and parachuted down separately, a detail that was kept quiet for years because flight records at the time said pilots had to land with their spacecraft. Yuri Gagarin’s flight was a huge milestone, showing that human spaceflight was possible and safe—even if just for a short time. It put the USSR ahead in space exploration and sparked a strong reaction from the United States, which eventually led to NASA’s Apollo program. The Vostok program went on to have more crewed flights, showcasing what the Soviets could do. Gagarin became a national hero and a symbol of Soviet creativity, and now April 12 is celebrated worldwide as International Day of Human Space Flight in his honor.
