The Space Race between the Soviet Union and the United States, the two Cold War superpowers, began just before the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial See more

Unlike later Vostok missions, there were no dedicated tracking ships available to receive signals from the spacecraft. Instead they relied … See more

At 07:25 UTC, the spacecraft's automatic systems brought it into the required attitude (orientation) for the retrorocket firing, and shortly afterwards, the liquid-fueled engine … See more

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• Vostok was the lead ship of Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, who discovered Antarctica during the Russian expedition to the south polar region in 1819–1820. Some … See more

The Vostok 1 capsule was designed to carry a single cosmonaut. Yuri Gagarin was chosen as the prime pilot of Vostok 1, with Gherman Titov and Grigori Nelyubov as backups. These assignments were formally made on April 8, four days before the mission, but … See more

At 05:30 Moscow time, on the morning of 12 April 1961, both Gagarin and his backup Titov were woken. They were given breakfast, … See more

Soviet reaction
Gagarin's flight was announced while Gagarin was still in orbit, by Yuri Levitan, the leading Soviet radio personality since the 1930s. Although news of Soviet rocket launches would normally be aired only after the fact, See more