Launched from Baikonur, the rocket launched into earth orbit spacecraft "Vostok-1" , on Board of which was the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.

to 54 years ago, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, world's first flight into space. In just 108 minutes to orbit the Earth and opened a new page in the history of mankind.



April 12, 1961, humanity has stepped into a new era. Launched from Baikonur, the rocket launched into earth orbit spacecraft "Vostok-1" , on Board of which was the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.

Having made one revolution around the planet, "East", has entered the earth's atmosphere, in 10 hours 55 minutes Moscow time the descent module landed near the village of Smelovka (Saratov region).

This mission helped scientists to get information about human behavior in space and gave an additional boost to the development of the global space program. the

Soon, on 5 may 1961, after Gagarin flew a suborbital flight and American astronaut Alan Shepard. Further, the USSR and the United States began increasingly to participate in the space race, however unlike an arms race, each of the opposing sides was carrying an invaluable benefit to all mankind. the

After the flights of Gagarin and Shepard, the world learned about Valentina Tereshkova, first woman cosmonaut; released space walk Alexei Leonov; Frank Borman, William Anders and James Lovell - astronaut, leafless natural satellite of the Earth, and of course, Neil Armstrong and Edwin "buzz" Aldrin!-   the first men to walk on the moon.

now, thanks to scientists and astronauts, humanity was able to organize its first Outpost in space, namely the International space station, a joint research facility created by the efforts of 15 countries.

See also: incredible images of Earth from ISS >>