12 April 1961: Yuri Gagarin Became First Human In Space

50 years ago on 12 April 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel to the space. It marked beginning of a new era in human space exploration. Yuri was all 27 years and it took him about 108 minutes to complete single orbit of Earth. This was the time of intense competition between two super powers- USA & Russia and Russia was the first one to put a man in space. Yuri's flight began at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and ended safely in Russia.

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Yuri Gagarin

Gagarin used the Vostok Rocket to get into the space. This rocket was adopted from USSR's earlier Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, the R-7 Semyorka. USA soon responded by launching astronaut Alan Shaphard with Redstone rocket. The landing of Man on Moon actually culminated the competition between these two superpowers. Next missions were jointly executed by USA & Russia.

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