First man in space

On April 12 1961, a Russian Cosmonaut (Yuri Gagarin) became the first human to ever travel into outer space. The Russian team worked hard to beat a deadline America had which was to send a man into space by 1961. There were more than 200 Russian Air Force fighter pilots that were chosen as cosmonaut candidates. Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin, the third of four children, born on March 9, 1934 in a small village a hundred miles from Moscow. As a teen Yuri Gagarin was offered a chance to join the flying club which he eagerly accepted. Yuri Gagarin went on his first solo flight in 1955. Only a few years later he submitted a request to be considered a Cosmonaut. On April 12, 1961, at 9:07 a.m. Moscow time, the Vostok 1 spacecraft blasted off from the Soviets launch site.