Vostok 1

spaceflight of the Vostok programme

AI overview

Vostok 1 was the first crewed spacecraft to reach space, launched by the Soviet Union on April 12, 1961, carrying cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into orbit around Earth. This historic flight marked a major milestone in human exploration and the Space Race, proving that humans could survive the journey to space and back.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

~30 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Vostok 1 (Russian: Восток, lit. 'East' or 'Orient') was the first spaceflight of the Vostok programme and the first human orbital spaceflight in history. The Vostok 3KA space capsule was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on 12 April 1961, with Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin aboard, making him the first human to reach orbital velocity around the Earth and to complete a full orbit around the Earth.

The orbital spaceflight consisted of a single orbit around the Earth that reached a maximum altitude of 327 kilometers (203 miles; 177 nautical miles) and a minimum of 181 kilometers (112 miles; 98 nautical miles). The flight took 108 minutes from launch to landing. Gagarin parachuted to the ground separately from his capsule after ejecting at 7 km (23,000 ft) altitude.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Vostok 1” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.