- Colonel Yuri A. Gagarin was born on a collective farm in a region west of Moscow, Russia on March 9, 1934
- Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first human in space and the first man to orbit the Earth making a 108-minute orbital flight in his Vostok 1 spacecraft
- His father was a carpenter. Yuri attended the local school for six years and continued his education at vocational and technical schools
- Yuri Gagarin joined the Russian Air Force in 1955 and graduated with honors from the Soviet Air Force Academy in 1957
- Soon afterward, he became a military fighter pilot. By 1959, he had been selected for cosmonaut training as part of the first group of USSR cosmonauts
- Yuri Gagarin flew only one space mission
- On April 12, 1961 he became the first human to orbit Earth. Gagarin's spacecraft, Vostok 1, circled Earth at a speed of 27,400 kilometers per hour
- The flight lasted 108 minutes. At the highest point, Gagarin was about 327 kilometers above Earth
- Once in orbit, Yuri Gagarin had no control over his spacecraft
- Vostok's reentry was controlled by a computer program sending radio commands to the space capsule Although the controls were locked, a key had been placed in a sealed envelope in case an emergency situation made it necessary for Gagarin to take control. As was planned, Cosmonaut Gagarin ejected after reentry into Earth's atmosphere and landed by parachute
