This week, space geeks around the world will celebrate the historic flight that made Yuri Gagarin the first person to leave the confines of Earth 52 years ago. "Yuri's Night" (celebrated annually the ...

Before anyone knew whether a human body could survive space, Yuri Gagarin volunteered to find out. In 1961, he climbed into a tiny capsule with almost no control systems and became the first person to ...

(SOUNDBITE) (RUSSIAN) COSMONAUT YURI GAGARIN SAYING: ''I am immeasurably happy, that my dear homeland was the first in the human history to enter space.'' Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin won a place in ...

Sure, you remember Neil Armstrong, but are you also a fan of Yuri Gagarin? The Russian cosmonaut became the first human to orbit in space when he flew the Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961. On the ...

In 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, but the full story of his return to Earth was quietly rewritten by Soviet officials. Decades later, declassified details revealed how close the ...

Today marks 60 years since Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel to space, in a pioneering event without which NASA's future—including the Moon landings—may have looked very different, a ...

Sixty years ago today, on April 12, 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made history by becoming the first human to travel into space. Launching aboard the Vostok 3KA-3 spacecraft, Gagarin circled ...

Crushed into the pilot's seat by heavy G-forces, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin saw flames outside his spacecraft and prepared to die. His voice broke the tense silence at ground control: “I’m burning.

Alice Gorman receives funding from the Australian Research Council for the International Space Station Archaeological Project. She is a member of the Advisory Council of the Space Industry Association ...