No, this isn’t about a birthday, of anyone. It is about the fact that yesterday was the 47th anniversary of the first human in space, Yuri Gagarin, of the Soviet Union.

from itwire.com

At about 6:07 a.m. Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), Gagarin’s capsule entered orbit about the Earth. Gagarin’s trip into space lasted just over one orbit around the Earth—a length of approximately 108 minutes, with one orbit being 89.34 minutes.

Gagarin was inserted into a 105 by 196 mile (169 by 315 kilometer) orbit with an inclination of about 65 degrees.

Gagarin’s capsule, Vostok 1 (nicknamed "the Swallow" and with call sign "Siberian Pine"), which in English means “Orient 1” or “East 1,” was the first spacecraft to be inhabited by a human in space, along with the first spacecraft (and human) to orbit about the Earth.

Vostok 1 (Vostok 3KA-3) was one of a series of Vostok 3KA spacecraft that were launched by the Soviet Union from the Baikonur Cosmodrome (launch pad LC1) using Vostok 8K72K launch vehicles.

At 7:35 UTC, Vostok 1 begins to re-enter the Earth’s atmoshere.

At 7:55 UTC, Gagarin is ejected from his Vostok capsule and continues to descend through the Earth’s atmosphere with the use of a parachute.

At 8:05 UTC, Gagarin lands about (26 kilometers) southwest of Engels, Sarataov Region (Saratov Oblast, located in the Volga Federal District, with its center the city of Saratov).

The first Vostok mission was an unmanned flight on March 8, 1961 and the last one was Vostok 6 on June 16, 1963, which carried the first woman in space, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.

 

So, we’ve not yet been in space a half a century, yet accomplished so much. It is quite a reason to celebrate, especially considering that we now have our comrades in Russia as partners in the International Space Station, instead of foes on the other side of a cold war.

Here’s to the next 47 (or so) years! Hopefully humans can celebrate that milestone from another planet!

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[tags] space program, cosmonauts, Yuri Gagarin, Vostok 1[/tags]