A half-century ago today — April 12, 1961 — the era of human spaceflight began. On that historic date, Vostok-1 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, then known mostly as Tyuratam, carrying Yuri Gagarin to triumph as the first man in space. After one orbit, his spherical capsule returned him to … Continue reading Two Human Spaceflight Firsts, Two Decades Apart