Profile of the Day: Yuri Gagarin

On this day in 1934, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was born in the village of Klushino in Smolensk, Russia. Gagarin made history in 1961 when he became the first human to travel into outer space.

Image: Yuri Gagarin / NASA

Gagarin was the third of four children born to Alexey Ivanovich Gagarin, a carpenter and bricklayer, and Anna Timofeyevna Gagarina, a milkmaid. He made his first flight after joining a local flying club. He trained as a Soviet air cadet before joining the Soviet Air Force.

In 1960, Gagarin was one of 19 pilots chosen for the Soviet space program. On April 12, 1961, Gagarin successfully launched in the Vostok 1, making him the first man to travel into space and orbit the earth. The groundbreaking flight lasted 108 minutes. After the launch, Gagarin instantly became an international celebrity and was named a Hero of the Soviet Union.

Tragically, Gagarin died in a plane crash on March 27, 1968 at the age of 34.

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