Legendary Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Russian cosmonaut who completed a historic orbit of the earth on 12 April, 1961, in Vostok Spacecraft, staying for 108 minutes in space.

Yuri was born on 9 March, 1934, in a village about 200 Kilometers west to Moscow, Russia. He joined a flying club at an age of 20 and later underwent for training of a military fighter pilot.

In 1959, Yuri voluntarily joined with 20 others as members of Soviet military air force.  The group was eventually cut down to six, including Yuri.

In April 1961, Yuri was picked up for the first manned mission to space. In the same year, Yuri got married with a nurse with whom he had two daughters.

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On April 12 at 9:07 am Moscow time, Gagarin uttered the famous words “Poyekhali!”—means “Let’s go!” or “We’re off!”—as his spacecraft blasted off and took him into orbit.

At 9:12 am on same day, he shouted over the radio, “I see the Earth, it’s magnificent.”

After a flight of 108 minutes, Gagarin landed by parachute.

Mysterious End

On a training mission on March 27, 1968, Yuri’s MiG fighter plane entered a high-speed spin and crashed into the ground.

Gagarin and his instructor were killed. But the circumstances are still unclear and the accident was hushed up for days.