27-year-old cosmonaut Yuri
Gagarin becomes the first man in space on April 12, 1961, aboard the
Vostok 3KA-3 (Vostok-1). Gagarin was selected as one of the Soviet
Union’s first class of 20 cosmonauts in 1960. He excelled in the
training and so was chosen to be the first man to enter space.
Vostok-1 reaches a maximum
altitude of 327 km and goes once around the earth. According to
official records, the spaceflight took 108 minutes from launch to
landing. The entire flight is controlled by automatic systems but a
code to unlock the controls was placed in an on-board envelope, for
Gagarin's use in case of an emergency. Gagarin landed separately from
the spacecraft, having ejected with a parachute 7 km above the
ground.
 |
| Yuri Gagarin |
 |
| Vostok-1 Capsule |
 |
| Yuri Gagarin |
Yuri Gagarin News 1961 (Dutch)
Yuri Gagarin interview BBC July 11, 1961
No comments:
Post a Comment