edwhiteandblue: April 12, 1961: “Poyekhali!” Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human t
edwhiteandblue: April 12, 1961: “Poyekhali!” Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to fly in space onboard Vostok 1. The 27-year-old Soviet cosmonaut completed a single orbit around the Earth the morning of Wednesday, April 12— only 25 days before the first American crewed suborbital spaceflight. During descent, he ejected from his spacecraft and landed under his own parachute near the city of Engels. Ever since, there have been rumors and conspiracy theories that Gagarin was actually not the first person to fly in space, but rather the first to return. Though none of these stories about so-called “phantom cosmonauts” have any truthfulness, they are still an interesting piece of early space history.Read more about phantom cosmonauts here! -- source link