April 12, 1961
The first human space flight. It was accomplished by Yuri Gagarin.
I looked at the ship on which I was about to depart in a few minutes on an unprecedented voyage. It was more beautiful than the locomotive, the steamship, the airplane, the palaces, and the bridges combined.
Before Gagarin, seven Vostok spacecraft had been launched into space, but only three had been successful. Despite this, Soviet designers were in a hurry: the launch of the American Shepard was scheduled for late April.
The flight lasted 108 minutes, but for Gagarin and his superiors it seemed like an eternity.
Even before liftoff, one of the contacts that initiated the ejection timer failed to close. They had to open the hatch again, unscrewing 32 nuts. Gagarin watched the work through a small mirror on his sleeve and whistled softly: "The Motherland hears, the Motherland knows".
Vostok ascended 85 kilometers higher than planned. If the braking system failed, the spacecraft could have remained in orbit for a month, but the life support systems were designed for 10 days. Gagarin was not informed of this malfunction.
During the flight, the cosmonaut made only one mistake, and it was harmless: he lost a pencil.
You don't sit or lie down, but rather hang in the cabin. Any loose objects also float.
The ship descended along an unplanned trajectory, and Gagarin experienced terrible G-forces. The compartments separated 10 minutes later than planned.
There's no division. The "Cardiballet" continues. I figured I'd be able to sit down normally after all. I didn't make any noise.
He descended with two parachutes instead of three and landed near Engels, 200 kilometers from the planned landing site. The cosmonaut spent over five minutes untangling the valve cord to breathe Earth's air.
Even before the flight, TASS prepared three messages: successful landing; landing outside the USSR with a request for assistance; death.
Before the flight, Gagarin left a letter to his wife:
I have complete faith in technology. It shouldn't fail. But sometimes, out of nowhere, a person falls and breaks their neck. Something can happen here, too.
This letter was given to her 7 years later, after Gagarin’s death in a plane crash.