Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin blasted off from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Vostok 1 capsule, notching a win for the Soviet Union during the Space Race and a huge victory for humanity.

On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin circled the Earth aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1. After parachuting from the craft near the Russian village of Smelovka, Gagarin landed a hero ...

Presented as a triumph of the fiercely fought Space Race against the U.S., ... In Photos: Yuri Gagarin, First Man in Space Related: 25 Space Conspiracies That Just Won't Die.

Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first human to enter space more than 62 years ago. It was a massive propeller for technology we depend on today. The race into spa ce was intense between the US and ...

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human in space. In 1961, he orbited Earth aboard the Vostok 1 space capsule, the first-ever crewed spacecraft.

Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin defied gravity and became the first man in space 55 years ago -- on April 12, 1961. ... free from the national rivalry that underscored the space race.

It might be another conspiracy theory, but the saga of the lost Soviet cosmonauts has persisted for many years, largely ...

It was the Soviet Union's own giant leap for mankind, one that would spur a humiliated United States to race for the moon. It happened 50 years ago Tuesday, when an air force pilot named Yuri ...

The life and times of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who became the first man in space on April 12, 1961. ... titanically expensive Space Race between the two superpowers. In 1957, ...

Vostok-1, the first manned spaceship, landed empty, as Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made an early exit via parachute and touched down a few kilometers away. AFP/Getty Images The “space race ...

On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin circled the Earth aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1. After parachuting from the craft near the Russian village of Smelovka, Gagarin landed a hero ...

On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin circled the Earth aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1. After parachuting from the craft near the Russian village of Smelovka, Gagarin landed a hero ...