The First Man in Space, 12th April 1961

12th April 1961, 5.30am Moscow time (2.30 UTC) Yuri Gagarin was awoken at Baikonur Cosmodrome. He breakfasted, put on his spacesuit and was taken to the launch pad. He entered the Vostok 1 spacecraft and 40 minutes later the hatch closed. A faulty seal needed last minute repair. Nerves frayed in the control centre but Yuri requested music, his pulse 64 bpm. Lift off at 06.07 UTC, orbit achieved, travelling over the North Pacific, crossing the tip of South America at 06.25 and passing into night. By 07:10 he's back in sunlight and at 07:25 automatic engines orient Vostok for reentry, 8000km from the landing point. Retrorockets fire for 42 seconds and commands are sent to separate the reentry module, but the service module remains attached by a bundle of wires. 07:35 both halves enter the atmosphere and start to gyrate. The wires break and Yuri signals "Everything's OK" despite frantic spinning. 07:55 Vostok is still 7 km from the ground when the hatch is released and he ejects. At 08.05 Gagarin lands by parachute seen by a farmer and her daughter. "When they saw me they backed away. I said, 'Don't be afraid, I'm a Soviet like you, who has descended from space and I must find a telephone to call Moscow.'" Humanity's greatest expedition had begun