1934-1968. Soviet cosmonaut, who in 1961
became the first human in space aboard the
spacecraft Vostok 1. Born in the Smolensk
region, the son of a farmer, he qualified as
a foundryman. He became a pilot 1957, and on
12 Apr 1961 completed one orbit of the Earth,
taking 108 minutes from launch to landing. He
died in a plane crash while training for the
Soyuz 3 mission.