Vostok 2 was a Soviet crewed spaceflight carrying cosmonaut Gherman Titov, who became the second human to orbit the Earth. Launched only a few months after Yuri Gagarin's flight, it lasted about a day and completed more than seventeen orbits, the first spaceflight to last a full day. Titov, aged 25, remains the youngest person ever to have flown in space. He took manual control of the spacecraft, filmed and photographed the Earth, and was the first person to sleep in space. He also suffered what we now call space sickness, which showed that long stays in weightlessness could affect the body. His flight helped prove that people could live and work in orbit for longer periods.
Before and after
- 21 June 1961Birth of Joko Widodo
- 1 July 1961Birth of Diana, Princess of Wales
- 2 July 1961Death of Ernest Hemingway
- 4 August 1961Birth of Barack Obama
- 6 August 1961Launch of Vostok 2
- from 13 August 1961 to 9 November 1989Construction of Berlin Wall
- from 1 September 1961 to 29 May 1991Eritrean War of Independence
- 11 September 1961The World Wildlife Fund is founded
- 18 September 1961Founding of CONCACAF
More in Universe & space
- 30 September 1975Discovery of Themisto
- 24 May 1981Discovery of Larissa
- 20 January 1986Discovery of Ophelia
- 19 February 1986Launch of Mir
- 18 September 1989Discovery of Naiad
- 20 November 1998Launch of International Space Station
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.
