April 12, 1961: A day in photos

Fifty years ago, the Vostok-1 spacecraft with Yury Gagarin onboard lifted off from the Baikonur Space Center. The 108-minute space flight changed the world forever, ushering in the space age. Yury Gagarin, a citizen of the Soviet Union, became the first space traveler in history.

On April 12, Yury Gagarin woke up at 5:30 a.m. Photo: Yury Gagarin spent the night before his space flight in this house.

Although the final decision as to who will be the first to fly to outer space was made at the last moment, no one doubted that Gagarin would be the one. Photo: Yury Gagarin and his back-up man, German Titov, heading for the Baikonur Space Center.

After Chief Designer Sergei Korolev wished him luck, Yury Gagarin took the elevator to the spacecraft perched on top of the 39-meter Vostok launch vehicle.

Rocket engines ignited at 9:07 a.m., and the 287-ton Vostok launch vehicle lifted off from the Baikonur Space Center. “Let’s go!” Gagarin shouted into the microphone at precisely the same moment. Several minutes later, people at the mission control center heard him say: “I can see Earth … It’s so beautiful!”

Tensions ran high at the mission control center. Sergei Korolev maintained communications with the Vostok spacecraft during the entire flight.

At 9:57 a.m., Gagarin radioed to mission control that he was flying over North America. That same moment, the Soviet news agency TASS issued a report about the first Soviet manned space mission.

Exactly 108 minutes after lift-off, Gagarin landed safely near the village of Smelovka in the Ternovsky District of the Saratov Region. Photo: The descent module of Yury Gagarin’s Vostok-1 spacecraft on the ground.

It took Gagarin just over an hour to circle Earth but news of this history-making event traveled even faster.

That same day, Yury Gagarin reported personally to Soviet Communist Party and government leaders about the successful Vostok space flight.

No one remained indifferent to news of Yury Gagarin’s flight. All the newspapers sold out in Moscow that day.

No slogan could convey the emotions of Soviet citizens. Photo: Students of the Lomonosov Moscow State University at a celebration rally in honor of Yury Gagarin’s space flight.

Valentina Gagarina, the wife of Yury Gagarin, the first man in space, waited for his return like no one else. Photo: Valentina Gagarina, center, congratulated by her friends.