Yuri Gagarin was born on 9 March 1934 in Klushino. A Soviet pilot and cosmonaut, Gagarin was born to a peasant family in a village near Smolensk and trained as a foundry worker and then as an air force pilot. On 12 April 1961 he became the first human in space, completing one orbit of the Earth in the Vostok 1 spacecraft in 108 minutes. The flight made him a worldwide hero and a symbol of Soviet achievement. He toured the world and later served as a deputy to the Supreme Soviet and trained for further flights. He was killed in 1968 in the crash of a training jet near Moscow.
Before and after
- 1934Construction of University of Tehran
- 1934Founding of Bank of Canada
- 10 January 1934Birth of Leonid Kravchuk
- from 12 February 1934 to 16 February 1934Austrian Civil War
- 9 March 1934Birth of Yuri Gagarin
- 3 April 1934Birth of Jane Goodall
- 29 April 1934Construction of Warsaw Chopin Airport
- 15 June 1934Establishment of Great Smoky Mountains National Park
- 5 July 1934Founding of Badminton World Federation
More in Exploration & discovery
- 29 May 1914Birth of Tenzing Norgay
- from 8 August 1914 to 1 January 1917Expedition Endurance
- from 21 November 1915 to 30 August 1916Shackleton's Endurance is crushed by the ice
- 6 January 1919Death of Theodore Roosevelt
- 21 May 1927Lindbergh flies the Atlantic alone
- 6 March 1937Birth of Valentina Tereshkova
The era
This moment belongs to the Modern era (1914 CE to 1945 CE), world wars and a changing world. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.