Universe & space

Launch of Vostok 2

6 August 1961

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.

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This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.