Yuri Gagarin in Sweeden
On this day forty nine years ago on 12 April 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel to outer space and orbit the Earth. Launched on Vostok 3KA-3 (Vostok 1), Gagarin flew a single orbit for a total mission duration of 1 hour and 48 minutes. Gagarin died at the young age of 34 in a plane crash on March 27, 1968 when his MiG-15UTI crashed during a training mission. He was buried in the walls of the Kremlin on Red Square.