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Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin



Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin

Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin
YURI ALEXEYEVICH GAGARIN
Colonel, Air Force, USSR
Russian Astronaut
Born of peasant stock in the village of Klushino, Smolensk, March 9, 1934. Awarded his wings in the Soviet Air Force 1957. Honor graduate of the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy 1967. Selected from all test pilots of the USSR as being the most dedicated and professionally skilled, and to have the honor and responsibility for accomplishing an historic mission into the unknown.

The Columbus of the Cosmos. Pilot in the epic flight of man's first step toward the stars. In the Vostok I spacecraft on April 12, 1961, launched from Baiknur, he endured the rigors of high G forces, weightlesness, re-entry, to become the first human space pilot. Flight time 108 minutes.

Died while performing test pilot duties March 27, 1968.

Elected to the International Aerospace Hall of Fame 1970