Humans in outer space | First manned spaceflight | Techday, April 12th
On this TECHDAY in history, on April 12th 1961, the Vostok 3KA-3 (Vostok 1) spacecraft was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome. Yuri Gagarin, at the age of 27, became the first human to orbit the Earth aboard that Soviet spacecraft. He remained in space for an hour and forty-eight minutes before re-entering the atmosphere. That was Gagarin’s only flight in space.
The spacecraft consisted of a spherical capsule, which housed the cosmonaut, and a service module, which contained the spacecraft’s systems and propulsion. The capsule had a single porthole for Gagarin to view the Earth, as well as a periscope for him to navigate the spacecraft.
The Vostok 1 mission was to orbit the Earth once and last approximately 1.5 hours. However, due to a problem with the spacecraft’s retrofire system, the mission ended up lasting just 108 minutes. Despite this, Gagarin became the first human to orbit the Earth and safely return to the surface.
After his return, Gagarin became an international celebrity, a hero in the Soviet Union. He was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star Medal, and he was given a ceremonial promotion to major in the Soviet Air Force. Gagarin later continued to work as a cosmonaut and served as a backup pilot for several spaceflights. He died in a plane crash in 1968 at the age of 34.
This was just a snapshot on the presentation of the techday series. Gather more information on the first manned spaceflight. Indulge into the history by further reading more.
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Author: PC-GR
The World of Technology
