Who was the first man to go into space

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On 14 December 1959, the American newspaper ‘The Gadsden Times’ in Alabama published an Associated Press “The Russians use a missile base near the Elbrus mountains, close to the Iranian border, as the launching site for human space rockets. The Russians have experimented for two years with manned rockets, but have not used first-line test pilots in space ships yet,” the influential scientist was quoted as saying. Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space. Yuri Abramochkin/Sputnik The article was published in 1959. Two years later, the Soviet Union publicly announced that it had successfully sent a man into space. Yet, rumors of failed launches preceding the Vostok-1 mission with Yuri Gagarin on board fuel conspiracy theories still. Secret death in isolation Indeed, prior to the first universally recognized manned flight into space, there were deadly accidents involving people associated with the Soviet space program. One of the first fatal cases was the death of Valentin Bondarenko, a member of the Soviet cosmonaut squad. One of the tests that candidates for the first cosmonaut squad had to pass was a lengthy stay in an isolation chamber, a badly lit soundproof room. Here, leaders of the USSR space race imitated isolation that cosmonauts had to experience during a flight into space and studied the effect that loneliness and complete silence could have on a person’s state. Valentin Bondarenko, a member of the Soviet cosmonaut squad. Archive photo Simply put, Bondarenko was locke...

" " Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the world's first man in space, is seen in his spacesuit in a scene from the documentary, "First Voyage to the Stars," which was screened at the 2nd Moscow International Film Festival in 1961. Bettman Archives/Getty Images There have been a lot of groundbreaking firsts in human history, but only one person can claim to be the first in outer space. That's Yuri Gagarin, a He stood just 5 feet, 2 inches (1.57 meters). But in the lore of space exploration, Gagarin casts an enormously long shadow. In both life and death, he left a legacy brimming with both outstanding achievements ... and unanswered questions. Born in 1934 in Klushino, near Moscow, Gagarin was the son of a carpenter and a milkmaid. When he was still a child, Nazi forces invaded the U.S.S.R. and occupied the town. Everyone suffered – two of his siblings wound up in labor camps but survived the war. Later, Gagarin attended various technical schools, but it was He joined the Soviet Air Force and became a full-fledged fighter pilot, gaining proficiency on planes like the MiG-15. In the meantime, he married Valentina Goryacheva, with whom he had two daughters. In 1960, Soviet authorities chose 20 men to take part in the country's fledgling space program. The commission specified that the men be between 25 and 30 years old and less than 5 feet, 7 inches (1.57 meters) tall. Gagarin checked both boxes, and he was one of the lucky candidates selected for further training. Then began rigorous ...

On April 12, 1961—55 years ago today—Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin launched into the great beyond, becoming the first human in space. When he came back to Earth, Gagarin was looked upon as not just a hero, but the very embodiment of the Soviet Union's power. Streets were named after him. Monuments were erected. Khrushchev called him the Russian Christopher Columbus. And then he was gone. "It was not their fault. They were following the instructions to the letter." Less than seven years after his history-making mission, Gagarin died in a plane crash at only 38 years old. The cosmonaut and his flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin were flying a routine training exercise when they were lost, and the mysterious circumstances of the wreck have inspired a half-century of wild speculation. With little more than Soviet-sponsored reports, KGB investigations, and long withheld testimony as explanations, conspiracy theories sprung up to explain why a plane piloted by two experienced Russian airmen suddenly just fell out of the sky. So what really happened to the first man in space? In a Flash Yuri Gagarin. Getty Images There are things we know conclusively about Yuri Gagarin's final moments. He awoke early on March 27, 1968 to continue his "retraining" as a fighter pilot. (Prior to his days as a cosmonaut he had been a lieutenant in the Soviet Air Force, so this was a formality.) Gagarin was stationed at Chkalovsky Airport, about 20 miles northeast of Moscow. By all accounts, his retr...

• Known For: First human being in space and first in Earth orbit • Born: March 9, 1934 in Klushino, USSR • Parents: Alexey Ivanovich Gagarin, Anna Timofeyevna Gagarina • Died: March 27, 1968 in Kirsach, USSR • Education: Orenburg Aviation School, where he learned to fly Soviet MiGs • Awards and Honors: Order of Lenin, Hero of the Soviet Union, Pilot Cosmonaut of the Soviet Union; monuments were raised and streets named for him across the Soviet Union • Spouse: Valentina Gagarina • Children: Yelena (born 1959), Galina (born 1961) • Notable Quote: "To be the first to enter the cosmos, to engage single-handed in an unprecedented duel with nature—could anyone dream of anything greater than that?" Early Life born in Klushino, a small village west of Moscow in Russia (then known as the Soviet Union). Yuri was the third of four children and spent his childhood on a collective farm where his father, Alexey Ivanovich Gagarin, worked as a carpenter and bricklayer and his mother, Anna Timofeyevna Gagarina, worked as a milkmaid. Gagarin Learns to Fly In school, Yuri Gagarin loved both mathematics and physics. He continued on to a trade school, where he learned to be a metalworker and then went on to an industrial school. It was at the industrial school in Saratov that he joined a flying club. Gagarin learned quickly and was obviously at ease in a plane. He made his first solo flight in 1955. Since Gagarin had discovered a love of flying, he joined the Soviet Air Force. Gagarin's skill...