Fifty years since man's first space flight

This April 12 marks 50 years since Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. The Vostok 1 spacecraft that carried Gagarin, then a 27-year-old lieutenant of the Soviet Army, took off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 9 a.m. on April 12, 1961. Fifty years since man's first space flight Over the next hour and 48 minutes, it completed one orbit around the Earth at 27,000 km/h. The spacecraft landed in the Saratov region, 110 km south of Volgograd. Gagarin ejected 7 km above the ground and parachuted safely. Vostok was controlled automatically because neither the medical staff nor the construction engineers had known how a human would react to zero gravity, and so the controls were locked in order to prevent Gagarin from taking over. It took ground control 25 minutes to confirm that Vostok had reached a stable orbit. With the Cold War between the Soviet led eastern and the U.S. led western block the Soviet authorities declared the flight a heroic act that showed Communist superiority over the U.S. when it came to the space race. On April 4, ahead of the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's flight, Russia launched Soyuz, a spacecraft that took Russian cosmonauts Alexandr Samokutyayev and Andrei Borisenko and their U.S. colleague Ronald Garan to the International Space Station. Gagarin died on March 27, 1968, in a MiG-15 during a routine training flight. He was flying together with flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin, who also died. The cause of the crash remains unclear to this day, but it is certain the flight was conducted in poor weather conditions. Both pilots were cremated and buried in the walls of the Kremlin on Moscow's Red Square. The cosmonaut training center where Gagarin was trained bears his name today, as well as a village near his place of birth. A Belgrade street is also named after him. April 12 is now Cosmonautics Day. There is also a documentary film about Gagarin's historic flight, entitled First Orbit. The authors planned to release it on YouTube for the flight's 50th anniversary. This April 1961 photo shows Yuri Gagarin in training (Beta/AP)

Fifty years since man's first space flight

Over the next hour and 48 minutes, it completed one orbit around the Earth at 27,000 km/h. The spacecraft landed in the Saratov region, 110 km south of Volgograd. Gagarin ejected 7 km above the ground and parachuted safely.

Vostok was controlled automatically because neither the medical staff nor the construction engineers had known how a human would react to zero gravity, and so the controls were locked in order to prevent Gagarin from taking over. It took ground control 25 minutes to confirm that Vostok had reached a stable orbit.

With the Cold War between the Soviet led eastern and the U.S. led western block the Soviet authorities declared the flight a heroic act that showed Communist superiority over the U.S. when it came to the space race.

On April 4, ahead of the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's flight, Russia launched Soyuz, a spacecraft that took Russian cosmonauts Alexandr Samokutyayev and Andrei Borisenko and their U.S. colleague Ronald Garan to the International Space Station.

Gagarin died on March 27, 1968, in a MiG-15 during a routine training flight. He was flying together with flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin, who also died. The cause of the crash remains unclear to this day, but it is certain the flight was conducted in poor weather conditions. Both pilots were cremated and buried in the walls of the Kremlin on Moscow's Red Square.

The cosmonaut training center where Gagarin was trained bears his name today, as well as a village near his place of birth. A Belgrade street is also named after him.

April 12 is now Cosmonautics Day. There is also a documentary film about Gagarin's historic flight, entitled First Orbit. The authors planned to release it on YouTube for the flight's 50th anniversary.