50 Years of Manned Space Flight

On 12 April 1961 cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in Vostok 1 became the first human to enter space and orbit the earth. US astronauts did not achieve orbit until nearly a year later, when John Glenn in the Mercury spacecraft Friendship 7 completed three orbits of the earth on 20 February 1962.

A little less than seven years after his historic flight, Yuri Gagarin was killed when his MiG 15 jet crashed in a routine training mission.

We are all indebted to this great pioneer of space flight.