April 12: Vostok 1 carries Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into orbit; he is the first human in space. The Soviets refer to Gagarin as a "cosmonaut." The Americans had considered "cosmonaut" as a ...

Before the launch of the Voskhod-1 spacecraft, only six Vostok spaceships made spaceflights: at the peak of the space race, many things were done for the first time and there was no time for ...