Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space on April 12, 1961

Google main page art today celebrates Yuri Gagarin as he becomes the first man in space on April 12, 1961 .

(image found on cnet)

"Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, a 27-year-old lieutenant in the Soviet air force, blasted off aboard the Vostok 1 spacecraft at 6:07 a.m. GMT on April 12. He completed one orbit around the world before re-entry, ejecting from his descent capsule and making a successful landing by parachute.

The one-hour, 48-minute flight was an international sensation, giving the Soviet Union a widely perceived lead in the infant manned space race. Alan Shepard would complete a brief sub-orbital flight aboard a NASA Mercury-Redstone rocket on May 5, 1961, but Gagarin's orbital flight was viewed by many as a daunting achievement of Soviet technology, spurring the development of increasingly sophisticated spacecraft."