Yuri Gagarin died on 27 March 1968 in Novosyolovo, aged 34. 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
- from 20 February 1968 to 30 January 2003Premiere of Columbo
- 2 March 1968Birth of Daniel Craig
- 4 March 1968Birth of Kyriakos Mitsotakis
- 16 March 1968My Lai Massacre
- 27 March 1968Death of Yuri Gagarin
- 30 March 1968Birth of Céline Dion
- 2 April 1968Release of 2001: A Space Odyssey
- 4 April 1968Launch of Apollo 6
- 4 April 1968Death of Martin Luther King Jr.
More in Exploration & discovery
- 25 May 1961Kennedy commits the United States to a Moon landing
- 20 July 1976Viking 1 lands on Mars
- 1 July 2004Cassini enters orbit around Saturn and Huygens lands on Titan
- 25 August 2012Voyager 1 enters interstellar space
- 3 January 2019Chang'e 4 lands on the far side of the Moon
- 19 April 2021Ingenuity makes the first powered flight on another planet
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.