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Vostok 1
Vostok spacecraft.jpg
Model of the Vostok spacecraft
Operator Soviet space program
Harvard designation 1961 Mu 1
Mission duration 1 hour, 48 minutes
Orbits completed 1
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft Vostok-3KA No.3
Manufacturer Experimental Design Bureau OKB-1
Launch mass 4,725 kg (10,417 lb)
Landing mass 2,400 kg (5,290 lb)
Dimensions 2.30 m (7 ft 6.5 in) diameter
Crew
Crew size 1
Members Yuri Gagarin
Callsign Кедр (KedrSiberian pine)
Start of mission
Launch date April 12, 1961, 06:07 (1961-04-12UTC06:07) UTC
Rocket Vostok-K 8K72K
Launch site Baikonur 1/5
45°55′13″N 63°20′32″E / 45.920278°N 63.342222°E / 45.920278; 63.342222
End of mission
Landing date April 12, 1961, 07:55 (1961-04-12UTC07:56) UTC
Landing site 51°16′14″N 45°59′50″E / 51.270682°N 45.99727°E / 51.270682; 45.99727
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Low Earth
Perigee 169 km (91 nmi)
Apogee 327 km (177 nmi)
Inclination 64.95 degrees
Period 89.1 minutes
Epoch April 12, 1961
Gagarin in Sweden.jpg
Yuri Gagarin in Sweden
Vostok programme
Manned flights

Vostok 1 (Russian: Восто́к, East or Orient 1) was the first flight to take a human into space. It used a Vostok 3KA spacecraft, and was launched on April 12, 1961. It took into space Yuri Gagarin, a cosmonaut from the Soviet Union. The Vostok 1 mission was the first time a person went into outer space and the first time anyone had entered into orbit. The flight made one orbit and lasted for 1 hour, 48 minutes. The Vostok 1 was launched by the Soviet space program and made by the Soviet rocket scientists Sergey Korolyov and Kerim Kerimov.

The Vostok spacecraft weighed 4.73 t (10,400 lb), was 4.4 m (14 ft) long and 2.43 m (8.0 ft) in diameter. The cosmonaut flew inside a spherical module. He sat on a seat which was also an ejection seat which allowed the cosmonaut to escape from the spacecraft. The flight was simple, the cosmonaut was simply a passenger. There were controls for use in an emergency. The spacecraft had a food locker, radio, an experiment cabinet, and a round window. Gagarin ejected from the spacecraft after re-entry and landed by parachute.

There were six manned Vostok flights, the last one, Vostok 6, carried Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman to go into space on June 16, 1963.

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See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Vostok 1 para niños

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