* 1961 – The Russian ( Soviet ) cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first manned orbital flight, in Vostok 3KA-2 ( Vostok 1 ).

Averaging at least 1. 6 km thick, the ice is so massive that it has depressed the continental bedrock in some areas more than 2. 5 km below sea level ; subglacial lakes of liquid water also occur ( e. g., Lake Vostok ).

Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit the Earth aboard Vostok 1 manned spacecraft on 12 April 1961.

Columbia was successfully launched on April 12, 1981, the 20th anniversary of the first human spaceflight ( Vostok 1 ), and returned on April 14, 1981, after orbiting the Earth 36 times, landing on the dry lakebed runway at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

The Soviet space program achieved many of the first milestones, including the first living being in orbit in 1957, the first human spaceflight ( Yuri Gagarin aboard Vostok 1 ) in 1961, the first spacewalk ( by Aleksei Leonov ) in 1965, the first automatic landing on another celestial body in 1966, and the launch of the first space station ( Salyut 1 ) in 1971.

Vostok 1 (, East 1 or Orient 1 ) was the first spaceflight in the Vostok program and the first human spaceflight in history.

Vostok 1 was launched by the Soviet space program, and was designed by Soviet engineers guided by Sergei Korolev under the supervision of Kerim Kerimov and others.

27-year-old Yuri Gagarin was the only crew member of Vostok 1.

" Kamanin was referring to the second mission, Vostok 2, which would last a full day, compared to the relatively short single-orbit mission of Vostok 1.

Gagarin entered the Vostok 1 spacecraft, and at 7: 10 am local time ( 04: 10 UT ), the radio communication system was turned on.

Once Gagarin was in the Vostok 1 spacecraft, his picture appeared on television screens in the launch control room from an onboard camera.

* 06: 10 UT The payload shroud covering Vostok 1 is released.

* 06: 13 UT The rocket is still firing, pushing Vostok 1 toward orbit.

Yuri Gagarin in Vostok 1

I'm continuing the flight ..." Vostok 1 is moving further downrange from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

* 06: 17 UT The Vostok rocket final stage shuts down, ten seconds later the spacecraft separates and Vostok 1 reaches orbit.

However, the Soviet Union was fiercely competitive in holding the early lead it had gained in manned spaceflight, so the Soviet Communist Party, led by Nikita Khrushchev, ordered the hasty conversion of its single-pilot Vostok capsule into a two-or three-person craft named Voskhod, in order to compete with Gemini and Apollo.

The Vostok 1 re-entry capsule is now on display at the RKK Energiya museum in Korolyov, near Moscow.

Vostok I capsule on display at the RKK Energiya museum

* Sputnik 5 – first capsule recovered from orbit ( Vostok precursor ) – animals survived

* The Seliger system was tested during the 1960 launches of the Vostok capsule, including Sputnik 5, containing the space dogs Belka and Strelka, whose images are often mistaken for the dog Laika and the 1961 flight of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space on Vostok 1.

Titov would claim in an interview that he ejected from his capsule as a test of an alternative landing system ; it is now known that all Vostok program landings were performed this way.

Nikolayev reported sighting the Vostok 4 capsule after it entered orbit near him.

After the first-generation spacecraft Vostok and Mercury had proved the technical feasibility of manned spaceflight, NASA proceeded to build its second-generation capsule, Gemini, which was a completely new design which retained the successful features of Mercury such as the conical shape with a heat shield at the bottom while adding several new features for example engines strong enough to significantly alter orbit, docking and rendezvous facilities, and provisions for EVA, all of which were essential for practical applications of spaceflight, namely a manned Moon mission.

This was necessary because, unlike the Vostok space capsule, no ejection seats were fitted in the Voskhod ; the cosmonauts had to land inside the Voskhod descent module.

The airlock was necessary because Vostok and Voskhod avionics were cooled with cabin air and would overheat if the capsule was depressurized for the EVA.

He joined Mikhail Tikhonravov's OKB ( design bureau ), and in 1955, Feoktistov formed part of the team that went on to design the Sputnik satellites, the Vostok space capsule, the Voskhod space capsule, and the Soyuz space capsule under the leadership of the Soviet Chief Designer Sergey Korolev.

The Vostok capsule had limited thruster capability.

During the Vostok program, all the returning cosmonauts would eject as their capsule descended under parachutes at about 7, 000 m ( 23, 000 ft ).

** Unmanned version of the Vostok spacecraft ( Russian space capsule )

It is also the only museum outside of Russia that has an authentic, flown Vostok capsule.

* A Russian Vostok space capsule

In this approach, MA-10 and a new MA-11 flight, the latter using the MA-10 backup capsule, would be launched in close proximity, and fly a loosely co-ordinated mission, similar to the Soviet Vostok 3 and Vostok 4.

Soyuz 5 almost ended in disaster, when the reentry capsule entered the atmosphere on the wrong end – attributed to a failure of the equipment module to separate similar to that on the Vostok 1 flight.

Although myths and speculation about a Terra Australis (" Southern Land ") date back to antiquity, the first confirmed sighting of the continent of Antarctica is commonly accepted to have occurred in 1820 by the Russian expedition of Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev on Vostok and Mirny.

The first human spaceflight in history was accomplished on a derivative of R-7, Vostok, on 12 April 1961, by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.

The Vostok 3KA spacecraft was launched on April 12, 1961.

On Baikonur cosmodrome on the morning of April 11, 1961, the Vostok-K rocket, together with the attached Vostok 3KA spacecraft, were transported several miles to the launch pad, in a horizontal position.

Vostok 1 passes over Soviet Union and moves on over Siberia.

* 06: 37 UT Vostok 1 continues on its journey as the Sun sets over the North Pacific.

* 06: 46 UT Khabarovsk ground station sends the message " KK " via telegraph ( on HF radio to Vostok 1 ).

News of the Vostok 1 mission is broadcast on Radio Moscow.

The coldest air temperature ever recorded on Earth is, at Vostok Station, Antarctica on 21 July 1983.

He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on 12 April 1961.

Many commented on how Gagarin's smile gained the attention of crowds on the frequent tours he did in the months after the Vostok 1 mission success.

* The Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union gave a peaceful outlet to the political and military tensions of the Cold War, leading to the first human spaceflight with the Soviet Union's Vostok 1 mission in 1961, and man's first landing on another world — the Moon — with America's Apollo 11 mission in 1969.