Vostok 1 — Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space

At 09:07 Moscow time on 12 April 1961, a modified R-7 rocket lifted off from Baikonur carrying 27-year-old Lieutenant Yuri Gagarin inside Vostok 1 — a spherical re-entry capsule 2.3 metres in diameter. His first words in orbit were the now-legendary 'Poyekhali!' — 'Off we go!'

Gagarin completed one full orbit, reaching a maximum altitude of 327 kilometres. Due to uncertainty about how humans would react to weightlessness, much of the spacecraft was automated. Gagarin had been given a sealed envelope containing a manual override code, to be opened only if the automation failed and he needed to prove he was mentally capable of flying the vehicle.

Re-entry was dramatic. The service module failed to separate cleanly, putting Vostok into an 8-minute tumble before aerodynamic drag burned through the connecting cables. Gagarin ejected at 7,000 metres and parachuted separately to a field near the village of Smelovka — a fact concealed from the public for decades to protect the official landing record.

The news reached the world within hours. President Kennedy, two months into his first term, faced pressure to respond. Within weeks he had committed the United States to landing a man on the Moon before the decade was out.