Gagarin, Yury

In 1961 humans first reached outer space, when Soviet cosmonaut Yury Gagarin flew for 60 minutes in Vostok 1. On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard Jr. became the first U.S. astronaut to fly in space. Shepard s Project Mercury flight lasted 15 minutes. John Glenn became the first American astronaut to circle Earth, on Eebruary 20, 1962. 

First person in space Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first person in space when he orbits the Earth on April 12. 

Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin s (1961) and lohn Glenn s (1962) pioneering orbits of the Earth extended the reach of human life to space. 

Space exploration efforts have been very well publicized in recent years, and have included such notable developments, in addition to Sputnik, as the launching of manned rockets (with the first astronauts Yuri Gagarin in the Soviet Union and Alan Shepard in the United Sates), the Apollo missions to the moon (with Neil Armstrong s momentous first step), the Russian and... 

Apr. 1961 U.S.S.R. Vostok 1 First manned satellite (Yuri Gagarin, one orbit). 

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