In the early 1960s, Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union, was looking for a way to increase his country's prestige. A team of rocket engineers and a twenty-six-year-old air force pilot would deliver it to him.
On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin, the young pilot, became the first man in space when he was launched into orbit aboard Vostok 1. Photos of Gagarin inside the craft flooded the world media. However, in the spirit of secrecy surrounding space race competition, photos of Vostok's exterior would not be revealed for another four years.
The ship was the handiwork of the USSR's "Chief Designer," Sergei Korolev. Metal straps attached a manned sphere and an equipment module. Gagarin sat in an ejectable seat with a parachute, which allowed him to land separately from the capsule, reducing the impact he felt on touchdown.
Gagarin's flight stunned the world. Later Vostok missions -- including the first spaceflight to last over twenty-four hours, the youngest person to fly in space, the first person to sleep in space, the first team flight, the longest solo space flight, the first woman in space, the first multi-person crew, and the first spacewalk -- would have similarly strong impacts.
