USSR
Cosmonaut – Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin
Flight – Vostok, 12/04/1961.
Time in space – 1 hour, 48 minutes.
The first man in space, pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR.
He was born on 9 March 1934 in the village of Klushino, Gzhatsky (now Gagarinsky) District, Smolensk Region.
On 12 April 1961 at 09:07 Moscow time from the 5th scientific research and experimental centre of the Ministry of Defence of the USSR (as the Baikonur cosmodrome was called at that time) the rocket 8K72K (later named Vostok) was launched which put the Vostok satellite with Yuri Gagarin on board into orbit.
The flight lasted 1 hour and 48 minutes. While in orbit, Gagarin maintained radio contact with the Earth, made observations through the portholes and controlled the operation of the ship's systems.
After one orbit, the descent vehicle landed on the territory of the USSR in the Saratov region. According to the planned programme, the cosmonaut bailed out at an altitude of several kilometres above the Earth's surface and landed with a parachute near the descent vehicle. The cosmonaut landed at 10.55 Moscow time.
For his space flight on 14 April 1961, Yuri Gagarin was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union (1961) and the Order of Lenin (1961). On the same day, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued a decree establishing the honorary title "Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR" and awarding it to Gagarin.
On 27 March 1968, Gagarin and test pilot Colonel V.S. Seregin died in the crash of a MiG-15 UTI during a training flight. The aircraft crashed near the village of Novoselovo, Kirzhachsky District, Vladimir Region. The exact cause of the crash is not known.
He was buried in the Kremlin wall on Red Square in Moscow.
The date of the first manned space flight, 12 April, has been celebrated annually in Russia (formerly the USSR) since 1962 as the Day of Cosmonautics, and since 1969 as the World Day of Aviation and Astronautics. The UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/65/271 of 7 April 2011 proclaimed this day as the International Day of Human Space Flight.