Vostok 1 was the first spaceflight of the Vostok programme and the first human orbital spaceflight in history. The Vostok 3KA space capsule was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on 12 April 1961, with Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin aboard, making him the first human to reach orbital velocity around the Earth and to complete a full orbit around the Earth.
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who, aboard the first successful crewed spaceflight, became the first human to journey into outer space. Travelling on Vostok 1, Gagarin completed one orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961, with his flight taking 108 minutes. By achieving this major milestone for the Soviet Union amidst the Space Race, he became an international celebrity and was awarded many medals and titles, including the nation's highest distinction: Hero of the Soviet Union.
Vladimir Mikhaylovich Komarov was a Soviet test pilot, aerospace engineer, and cosmonaut. In October 1964, he commanded Voskhod 1, the first spaceflight to carry more than one crew member. He became the first Soviet cosmonaut to fly in space twice when he was selected as the solo pilot of Soyuz 1, its first crewed test flight. A parachute failure caused his Soyuz capsule to crash into the ground after re-entry on 24 April 1967, making him the first human to die in a space flight.
Svetlana Yevgenyevna Savitskaya is a Russian former aviator and Soviet cosmonaut who flew aboard Soyuz T-7 in 1982, becoming the second woman in space. On her 1984 Soyuz T-12 mission she became the first woman to fly to space twice, and the first woman to perform a spacewalk.
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova is a Russian engineer, member of the State Duma, and former Soviet cosmonaut. She was the first woman in space, having flown a solo mission on Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963. She orbited the Earth 48 times, spent almost three days in space, is the only woman to have been on a solo space mission and is the last surviving Vostok programme cosmonaut. Twenty-six years old at the time of her spaceflight, she remains the youngest woman to have flown in space under the international definition of 100 km altitude, and the youngest woman to fly in Earth orbit.
Andriyan Grigoryevich Nikolayev was a Soviet cosmonaut. In 1962, aboard Vostok 3, he became the third Soviet cosmonaut to fly into space. Nikolayev was an ethnic Chuvash and because of it considered the first Turkic cosmonaut.
Vostok 6 was the first human spaceflight to carry a woman, cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, into space.
Valery Fyodorovich Bykovsky was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on three space flights: Vostok 5, Soyuz 22, and Soyuz 31. He was also backup for Vostok 3 and Soyuz 37.
Vostok was a class of single-pilot crewed spacecraft built by the Soviet Union. The first human spaceflight was accomplished with Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961, by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.
The Vostok programme was a Soviet human spaceflight project to put the first Soviet cosmonauts into low Earth orbit and return them safely. Competing with the United States Project Mercury, it succeeded in placing the first human into space, Yuri Gagarin, in a single orbit in Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961. The Vostok capsule was developed from the Zenit spy satellite project, and its launch vehicle was adapted from the existing R-7 Semyorka intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) design. The name "Vostok" was treated as classified information until Gagarin's flight was first publicly disclosed to the world press.
The Mercury 13 were thirteen American women who took part in a privately funded research program run by NASA physician William Randolph Lovelace II in 1959-1960, which aimed to test and screen women for spaceflight. The first participant, pilot Geraldyn "Jerrie" Cobb helped Lovelace identify and recruit the others. The participants successfully underwent the same physiological screening tests as had the astronauts selected by NASA for Project Mercury. While Lovelace called the project Woman in Space Program, the thirteen women decades later became known as the "Mercury 13"— a term coined in 1995 as a comparison to the Mercury Seven astronauts. The Mercury 13 women were not allowed in NASA's official astronaut program, and at the time, never trained as a group, nor flew in space.
Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin was a Soviet Air Force general and a program manager in the Soviet space program. A career aviator, he awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1934 for the rescue of SS Chelyuskin crew from an improvised airfield on the frozen surface of the Chukchi Sea near Kolyuchin Island.
Valentina Leonidovna Ponomaryova, née Kovalevskaya was a Soviet cosmonaut, pilot and scientist.
Tatyana Dmitryevna Kuznetsova was a Soviet cosmonaut. She was the youngest person ever selected by a government human spaceflight program.
Zhanna Dmitriyevna Yorkina was a Soviet citizen who received cosmonaut training, but never flew in space.
Space propaganda is a form of propaganda relating to achievements in space exploration and space science. It is used primarily to further a nation's perceived technological superiority, through the operation of a state-funded space agency. Space propaganda was first emergent during the Space Race of the mid-20th-century, an indirect extension of the Cold War.
Women have flown and worked in outer space since almost the beginning of human spaceflight. A considerable number of women from a range of countries have worked in space, though overall women are still significantly less often chosen to go to space than men, and by June, 2020 constitute only 12% of all astronauts who have been to space. Yet, the proportion of women among space travelers is increasing substantially over time.
Gagarin: First in Space a.k.a.. First man In Space is a 2013 Russian docudrama biopic about the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, and the 1961 mission of Vostok 1. It was released by Central Partnership theatrically in Russia on June 6, 2013, and in the United Kingdom on DVD on June 23, 2014 by Entertainment One. The film's running time of 108 minutes approximates the time it took Gagarin to go around the Earth before returning. It stars Yaroslav Zhalnin as Soviet fighter pilot and cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. The film received mixed reviews, with some critics praising the film's acting, direction and storytelling with others touching on the film's "cheap-looking" visual effects. The film received criticism for its state funding and ignoring the aftermath of the flight.
Lyalya Andarbekovna Nasukhanova was a parachutist, aviator, flight instructor, and the first Chechen woman to become a pilot. Throughout her career she won many flight competitions, completed over 100 parachute jumps, gained well over 2,500 flight hours on Yakovlev and MiG jets, and trained more than 200 novice pilots. After dedicating 23 years of her life to aviation she entered politics before her death as a refugee during the First Chechen War.
