The “firsts” in the history of spaceflight
By Jinge Tan
First man in space Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Gagarin, the first man in orbit, was a Russian cosmonaut who completed an orbit of Earth aboard the Vostok I.
On reaching Earth, he described being in space as, “*You feel as if you were hanging in a horizontal position in traps. You feel as if you are suspended*.” This was to be his first and only journey into space. He died in an airplane crash. His ashes are buried in the walls of the Kremlin, Moscow.
First female astronaut Valentina V. Tereshkova
Valentina V. Tereshkova
Valentina V. Tereshkova
On June 16, 1963, Valentina V. Tereshkova successfully lifted off aboard the Vostok 6 spacecraft, and during the space flight lasting 70 hours and 50 minutes, Tereshkova tried her best to overcome many problems such as physical discomfort, equipment failure, psychological stress, etc., and returned to earth without any danger after 48 circles around the earth, and is still the only woman in history to independently pilot a spacecraft to lift off, and has set up an eternal milestone in the journey of human exploration of the universe.
First man in space walk Alexei Leonov
Alexei Leonov
On March 18, 1965, Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov achieved a 12-minute spacewalk during the spaceflight of the Ascend 2 spacecraft, the first astronaut in history to perform a spacewalk.
First victim Colonel Vladimir Komarov
Colonel Vladimir Komarov
Colonel Vladimir Komarov
On April 23, 1967, in order to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution, Colonel Vladimir Komarov, a famous Soviet cosmonaut, was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 3:35 a.m. Moscow time on the Soyuz 1 spacecraft. However, on the way back to the ground on the 24th, due to the parachute entanglement failure and crashed and killed, the Soviet hero also became the first astronaut to die in space flight.
First man on the moon Neil Alden Armstrong
Neil Alden Armstrong
On July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 spacecraft left Earth and flew to the moon. On July 20, at 10:56 p.m. Eastern Time, astronaut Armstrong got out of the lunar module and stepped on the moon, becoming the first person in the world to land on the moon.
First “space teacher” Wang Yaping
Wang Yaping
Wang Yaping
At 10:00 a.m. on June 20, 2013, Wang Yaping, astronaut of the Shenzhou 10 mission, taught students on the ground in space.
First person to sleep in space Gherman Titov
Gherman Titov
Gherman Titov was the first man to sleep in space.In other news, he also spent a whole day aboard Vostok 2 and orbited Earth 17 times and also the first person to vomit in space.
First tourist in space Dennis Tito
Denis Tito (left) poses with two Russian cosmonauts, the first ordinary citizen to go into space, staying on the International Space Station for more than a week.
American multi-millionaire Dennis Tito holds the title of being the first space tourist in the world. He went aboard the Russian craft Soyuz TM-32 to reach and board the International Space Station EP-1.
First pet in space Laika
Laika
Laika, the dog, was the first animal sent into space.She survived four orbits around Earth in the Sputnik 2, but, sadly, died of possible overheating.
First primate in space Albert II
Albert II
Albert II
Albert II was the first primate sent to space in a US-launched V2 rocket. He reached an altitude of 134km. Sadly, Albert died on impact after a parachute failure after the spacecraft’s re-entry to Earth.
References:
[1]Yuri Gagarin (wikipedia.org)
[2]Valentina V. Tereshkova (wikipedia.org)
[3]Alexei Leonov (wikipedia.org)
[4]Colonel Vladimir Komarov (wikipedia.org)
[5]Neil Alden Armstrong (wikipedia.org)
[6]Wang Yaping (wikipedia.org)
[7]Gherman Titov (wikipedia.org)
Meaningful moments