50th Anniversary of First Man in Space

Yuri Gagarin, First Human In Space

Russian cosmosnaut Yuri Gagarin became the first in space on April 12, 1961, ushering the new era of human spaceflight.  The spacecraft, Vostok 1, reached unprecedented speed for human travel at the time.  It broke free of the Earth's gravitional pull and entered orbit around the planet, circling once before re-entering the atmosphere and landing back on Soviet soil.  Gagarin was in space for a total of 108 minutes, traveling around the Earth once at 17,500 miles per hour.

To learn more, visit 6 Surprising Facts About Yuri Gagarin's First Spaceflight.