On 12 April 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into space and the first astronaut to orbit the earth in his spaceflight ‘Vostok 1’.

Born in 1934, Yuri’s childhood was scarred by conflicts and suffering. In 1941, Nazi soldiers who occupied his village and burned down his school ended his first year of education. The end of the war was the beginning of a new passion – flying.

Fearless and indomitable, Gagarin dedicated the rest of his life to space exploration and will be forever known as the first human being to have circled the Earth.

Find what you love and let it kill you? 

This is how a Soviet Air Force doctor described his personality:

Modest; embarrasses when his humor gets a little too racy; high degree of intellectual development evident in Yuriy; fantastic memory; distinguishes himself from his colleagues by his sharp and far-ranging sense of attention to his surroundings; a well-developed imagination; quick reactions; persevering, prepares himself painstakingly for his activities and training exercises, handles celestial mechanics and mathematical formulae with ease as well as excels in higher mathematics; does not feel constrained when he has to defend his point of view if he considers himself right; appears that he understands life better than a lot of his friends.

I could have gone on flying through space forever.

I could have gone on flying through space forever, said Gagarin, who died in an aircraft accident on March 27, 1968.

On Fearlessness

“Nothing will stop us. The road to the stars is steep and dangerous. But we’re not afraid.”

On the Beauty of Planet Earth

“The Earth is surrounded by a characteristic blue halo. This halo is particularly visible at the horizon. From a light-blue coloring, the sky blends into a beautiful deep blue, then dark blue, violet, and finally complete black.” 

“Rays were blazing through the atmosphere of the earth, the horizon became bright orange, gradually passing into all the colors of the rainbow.”