Yuri Gagarin

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet Air Force pilot and cosmonaut who captured the world's imagination on April 12, 1961, when he became the first human being to breach the atmosphere of Earth and orbit our planet in the cosmos. Born in a collective farm village west of Moscow that suffered brutal Nazi occupation during World War II, Gagarin trained as a foundryman before joining the Soviet Air Force as a jet interceptor pilot.

Selected from hundreds of elite fighter pilots for his calm psychological poise, physical endurance, and warm charisma, Gagarin stepped aboard the Vostok 3KA capsule atop an R-7 rocket at Baikonur Cosmodrome. Uttering his immortal exclamation Poyekhali! ('Let's go!'), he launched into orbit, circling the Earth for 108 minutes at 17,500 miles per hour before ejecting and parachuting safely onto Soviet farmland. Gagarin became an instantaneous international hero, celebrated with ticker-tape parades worldwide. Tragically, he was killed at age thirty-four during a routine training flight in a MiG-15UTI fighter.