Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut.
On 12 April 1961, he was the first human to fly into outer space; his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth in 108 minutes.
Gagarin instantly became an international celebrity. He was awarded many medals and titles, which included the nation's highest honour, Hero of the Soviet Union.
Vostok 1 marked his only spaceflight, but he served as backup crew to the Soyuz 1 mission, which ended in a fatal crash.
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