Who was Yuri Gagarin and what was Vostok 1?

1 Answer
Dec 17, 2014

Yuri Gagarin was a Soviet cosmonaut (astronaut) and a pilot. He was the first human ever who left the Earth, flew it around and returned. Vostok-1 (means East-1 in Russian language) is a spaceship which delivered him into the space in 1961. Yuri Gagrin was a national hero in the USSR and when he died during airplane testing in 1968 it was a national tragedy.
By the way Vostok-1 is also a Soviet Antarctic scientific station. It was closed and left in 1957. All equipment was moved into new station - Vostok which still works.