On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin made history aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1. He completed a full orbit of the Earth in just 108 minutes, marking a groundbreaking achievement for mankind. As he ...

There are a lot of things American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts have in common — not the least being a certain nonchalance about where and when they urinate. Alan Shepard, the first American in ...

Fifty years ago this month, a young Russian military pilot, standing just 5’2” tall and wearing a comically over-sized helmet that would later become an icon, was strapped into a capsule atop the ...

On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit Earth aboard Vostok 1, completing a single 108-minute circuit ...

Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space, on April 12, 1961. Born on March 9, 1934, as a young man he experienced a meteoric rise from tradesman and tractor specialist to pilot, ...

Bearing the date of Gagarin's orbit, this card was published a few weeks after his triumph. Bearing the date of Gagarin's orbit, this card was published a few weeks after his triumph.Rykoff Collection ...

Sixty years ago, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel in space when he completed his historic orbit of Earth on April 12, 1961. It was an extraordinary achievement, but ...

Fifty years ago on April 12, 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space, ushering in the era of human spaceflight. The rocket carrying Gagarin's Vostok 1 spacecraft blasted ...

Yuri Gagarin, feted as a Soviet national hero for being the first man in space, was killed in a plane crash 50 years ago but the details of his death remain shrouded in mystery. On March 27, 1968, at ...

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 Gagarin ...

The first man in space, Russian Yury Gagarin, was killed in a mysterious plane crash a half-century ago, just seven years after his historic feat, a Soviet-era propaganda coup. Gagarin's 108-minute ...

Because it lacks the funding to modernize its most historic launch pad, Russia now instead plans to turn “Gagarin’s Start” into a museum. The pad is known as Gagarin’s Start because it hosted the ...