Celebrate Yuri Gagarin!

Sent up by the Soviet Union in 1961, his space flight lasted 108 minutes and circled the earth once. He made the orbit in the Soviet Union’s Vostok spacecraft which had a spherical design as opposed to the airplane shape we are used to seeing now-a-days or even the cone-shape we saw with the Apollo missions.

Yuri Gagarin’s journey started when he joined the Soviet Airforce. A few years after joining, he submitted his request to be considered as a cosmonaut for the Soviet Union and was one of 20 candidates picked. When the group was surveyed as to who should be the first man to go up into space, Gagarin was chosen by all but three of his peers. After completing an intense training program, Gagarin and his back up Titov were deemed ready for space flight, and on April 12th, 1961, at 6:07 am UTC, the Vostok 1 spacecraft was launched. After a parachute landing, Gagarin became an international hero and celebrity. 

He will forever be remembered as a pioneer of space flight. 

Celebrate Gagarin with our Yuri’s Night Raglan Top!