![]() ![]() ![]() To prove their superior technological capabilities, both countries began to build massive nuclear arsenals and rockets capable of hitting targets across the world. Thus began the Cold War, in which the U.S. had just demonstrated its ability to destroy entire cities by dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to force Japan’s surrender. grew increasingly suspicious of one another as the war drew to a close in 1945. ( Subscriber exclusive: Explore 50 years of lunar visits with our newest moon map.) The space race beginsĭespite being allies during World War II, the U.S. ![]() But it isn’t where the story of human spaceflight truly begins: That trajectory was charted years earlier by another Soviet success. It was a pivotal moment in the space race between the United States and Soviet Union that would put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Moments later, the Soviet cosmonaut became the first person in space and, 89 minutes after launch, the first person to orbit the planet. He narrated his experiences to those on the ground as the rocket’s acceleration to 17,000 miles an hour pushed him back into his seat. Intelligent, diligent, and well-liked among his comrades, one memo written by Soviet Air Force doctors and obtained by historian Asif Siddiqi noted that Gagarin “understands life better than a lot of his friends.”Īt 9:07 a.m., Gagarin called out “ Poyekhali!”-Russian for “Off we go!”-as the rocket lifted off. After months of rigorous physical and technical training, the 27-year-old cosmonaut had been chosen for the historic flight in part for his unflappability. Two of the space program’s top engineers reportedly had to take tranquilizers that day as they waited for liftoff at the Kazakh launch site.īut Yuri Gagarin remained calm in the capsule atop the rocket. Of the 16 previous attempts to propel the U.S.S.R.’s Vostok rocket into orbit, half had failed. Tensions ran high at the Baikonur Cosmodrome on the morning of April 12, 1961, as the Soviet Union prepared to launch the first human into space. ![]()
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