Facts about Yuri Gagarin Mission
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During the Vostok 1 mission, Gagarin was kept on manual override lockout initially, as Soviet doctors were unsure how weightlessness would affect human cognitive function.
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Ground control received Gagarin's radio transmissions throughout the Vostok 1 mission, with his famous words "I don't see any God up here" later disputed by Soviet officials who claimed he said "I don't see God.
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Twenty-five-year-old Gagarin was selected from 154 Soviet Air Force pilot candidates to command the Vostok 1 mission based on his exceptional composure and physical fitness.
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Thirty-six thousand kilometers per hour was Vostok 1's orbital velocity during Gagarin's 1961 spaceflight, allowing him to complete one full Earth orbit in approximately 90 minutes.
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Gagarin's G-force exposure during Vostok 1's launch reached approximately 4.3 times Earth's gravity, a significant physiological stress for the first human spaceflight.
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Soviet engineers designed Vostok 1 with a total mass of 4,725 kilograms, making it heavier than any previous artificial satellite launched into orbit.
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Gagarin's capsule descended under a parachute system designed to withstand landing speeds of up to 10 meters per second after his historic April 1961 spaceflight.
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Vostok 1's spherical capsule reached a maximum altitude of 327 kilometers above Earth during Gagarin's orbital mission on April 12, 1961.
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Gagarin's ejection seat fired at 7 kilometers altitude during reentry, separating him from the Vostok 1 capsule over Soviet territory on April 12, 1961.
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On April 12, 1961, Vostok 1 completed its 108-minute orbital flight with Yuri Gagarin aboard, making him the first human in space.