events
Space Race: The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first crewed orbital flight, Vostok 1.
Related Wikipedia articles
Space Race
US–USSR spaceflight capability rivalry
The Space Race was a 20th-century competition between the Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between the two nations following World War II and…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Soviet Union
Country in Eurasia (1922–1991)
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until it dissolved in 1991. During its existence, it was the largest country by area, extending across eleven time zones and…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Astronaut
Spacecraft crew member
An astronaut is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spacecraft. Although generally reserved for professional space travelers, the term is sometimes applied to anyone who travels into space, including…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Yuri Gagarin
Soviet cosmonaut (1934–1968)
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who, aboard the first successful crewed spaceflight, became the first person to journey into outer space. Travelling on Vostok 1, Gagarin completed one orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961, with his flight taking 108 minutes.…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Outer space
Void between celestial bodies
Outer space, or simply space, is the expanse that exists beyond Earth's atmosphere and between celestial bodies. It contains ultra-low levels of particle densities, constituting a near-perfect vacuum of predominantly hydrogen and helium plasma, permeated by electromagnetic…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Orbit
Curved path of an object around a point
In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as a planet, moon, asteroid, or Lagrange…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Vostok 1
First human spaceflight in history
Vostok 1 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…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
April 12
Day of the year
April 12 is the 102nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 263 days remain until the end of the year.Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)