On the 12th April 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to ever travel into outer space. He was 27 years old at the time and would only live another seven years but in that time he received numerous awards, medals and titles whilst simultaneously becoming an international celebrity.

Gagarin was born on the 9th March 1934 in a village in the Smolensk province. He studied in the early 50s to become an apprentice foundryman but many of the details of his early life written in archived materials have either been destroyed or classified by Soviet authorities and later, Russian officials. Later in life when his parents were attending a reception for him at the Kremlin after his flight, officials went to the family home and took letters, family photos, notes from school and diaries that were never returned. This secrecy allowed the Soviet propaganda machine to sculpt the public view of Gagarin’s life to be that of a model Soviet. Many facts are difficult to establish but there are some “truths” that we know not to be factually correct. For example, many stories describe Gagarin as a teetotaller, but in fact he was partial to drinking spirits. Also the official story of his landing prior to the 1970s explained that he landed in his space capsule, emerging with a smile, when actually he ejected at 7km and landed with a parachute.

Gagarin came from Russian peasant stock; his grandfather was a shepherd and his father a carpenter. Many family members on his mother’s side were farmers. The Gagarin family had no electricity and were constantly either working or scrounging for money or food. In 1941 their village was occupied by the Nazis and they seized the Gagarin’s house, forcing them to live and sleep in a dug out hole in the ground next to their house. His brothers were tortured and a young Yuri witnessed many atrocities.

Learning to control himself under stress and adapting to hostile environments during the war helped Gagarin in later life, not only in space but also afterwards in the 1960s. One day during the war, he saw a Soviet plane crash into a swamp. Finding the pilot still alive he was in awe of him. He was allowed in the cockpit and shown what each of the controls did. From then on he worshipped military pilots.

After the war Gagarin focused on his studies and was an excellent student. After six years of schooling he left for Moscow aged 15, hoping to learn a trade. He completed his two-year degree and became an apprentice foundryman, whilst playing sport at the trade school during the same period. He then went on to complete four years at a technical college in the city of Saratov. There he studied Russian literature, Mathematics and was made head of the Physics club. This is where Gagarin, thanks to his teacher, first realised the possibility of manned space flight.

Gagarin excelled in sports again and was made secretary of student athletics and captained the basketball team, despite being just over five foot tall. Gagarin completed an internship in Leningrad and was offered a fulltime job there after he completed his degree but he rejected it in favour of completing another course: learning to fly.

Gagarin enrolled in DOSAFF, the Voluntary Society for Aid to the Army, Aviation and Navy. It prevented him from being called up for military service as a private but did give him the opportunity to complete his studies and later he could enter a military academy to become and officer and pilot. Gagarin learnt to fly Yak-18s, finishing DOSAFF in September 1955 with 81 solo flights under his belt. He decided to go to officer-training school to become a military pilot. For the next two years he learnt to fly fighter jets. He passed his flying exams by using a specially raised seat so he could see out the cockpit. It was at this time he also met his wife, Valentina, who was studying in the same city Gagarin was based at. The two years after that he flew MIG fighters and patrolled the arctic borders, whilst his wife looked after their new-born daughter, Elena, living only 13km from the Norwegian border.

Gagarin would not have flown into space without a man called Sergei Korolev, a Soviet rocket builder and chief designer. Korolev was very close to the Premier of the Soviet Union at that time, Nikita Khrushchev. Khrushchev relied on rocket technology as his defence in the cold war and his fascination with technological advancement meant the situation for the first manned space flight was present.

It was decided the first man in space would be a fighter pilot. It was thought they’d have the courage to overcome terrifying experiences such as weightlessness and would follow commands regardless of danger. From an initial 3,461 candidates who volunteered, 347 made the first cut, of which Gagarin was one. Medical, psychological and physical tests whittled down the field to just twenty. The twenty potential cosmonauts went to a new training centre near Moscow in January 1960 (later called Star City).

At Start City human endurance and the human psyche was tested. This included each candidate being kept in an isolation chamber for between 10 to 15 days. They could be spoken to by the trainers, but couldn’t speak back. The candidates also had to complete exercises in group isolation. Gagarin’s telling and appreciation of jokes made him stand out as having humour under pressure, a valuable trait. All the while, Gagarin had to keep his cosmonaut life secret from everybody else, telling them he was a test pilot.

Ultimately, Gagarin was picked not because of his piloting skills (which were hardly needed) but more because it was felt he could represent his country with honour thanks to his optimism, bravery, human warmth and humility. On hearing the news he was to be the first cosmonaut, Gagarin simply smiled.

The launch of the Vostok spacecraft took place in Baikonur Cosmodrome which is in present day Kazakhstan. Gagarin waited in the tiny capsule for nearly two hours before on take-off at 9.07am he uttered the words “Let’s Go!” in Russian – a phrase repeated by Russians to this day when toasting vodka.

Gagarin’s journey in space lasted 1 hour and 48 minutes. He landed on a farm near to where he had first learnt to fly and half an hour later he was surrounded by local people. He was eventually taken to an air force base where he was told of his promotion to major in the Red Army.

After his flight, Gagarin visited nearly 30 countries as a Soviet goodwill ambassador. Aeroplanes dropped pictures of Gagarin onto the streets of the major cities in Russia. The Soviet people saw him as a normal Russian guy – one of them – and a cosmic superhero. He was someone they could aspire to be.

Gagarin’s fame was heightened due to the fact that almost all apartment buildings in major cities were wired for radio and Soviet radios could not be turned off. It was also seen as arguably the first mass-televised event in Soviet history. It was this medium which allowed his charisma to really come through. Streets and squares across the country were named after him; even a city changed its name after he died to “Gagarin”. A museum was introduced about him in his hometown. For the next seven years from his space flight in 1961 to his untimely death in 1968, he crisscrossed the country on speaking duties. As Soviet society changed, Gagarin slowly developed into a modern celebrity as well as a Soviet hero. For example, Gagarin chocolates were sold with his face on the wrapper.

Gagarin took on the role of deputy commander of the cosmonauts in Star City. His duties involved everything from being in charge of cosmonaut training to making sure their residential environment was comfortable.

He also continued his duty of being the public face of the Soviets, visiting foreign dignitaries such as Fidel Castro in Cuba and Queen Elizabeth in England gathering dozens of medals along the way.

Some of Yuri Gagarin’s honours and awards:

Soviet Union – Hero of the Soviet Union

Soviet Union – Order of Lenin

Czechoslovakia – Hero of Socialist Labour

Cuba – The first Commander of the Order "Playa Giron"

France – 10 Gold Medals

Brazil – Gold medal for services in space exploration

Hungary – Order of the Flag of the Hungarian Republic

Egypt – Order of the Nile

Liberia – Order of the African Star

Vietnam – Hero of Labour

East Germany – Order of Karl Marx

Gagarin also ventured into politics. First he worked as a deputy for the Supreme Soviet, a common name for the parliaments of the various Soviet republics. Then he became a communist youth activist, promoting the qualities of Soviet aviation technology. The more that Gagarin spoke to people, the more in demand he became.

Gagarin decided he wanted to concentrate on finishing an engineering degree and then focus his attention on his role as cosmonaut commander at Star City. It was a tradition that pilots did not respect commanders who were grounded so Gagarin decided to regain his wings and start flying again. On 9th March 1968, after completing his degree, a feast was arranged to celebrate Gagarin’s 34th birthday and his return to the skies. Four days later he began flying again. On 27th March, Gagarin took off with his co-pilot from just outside Moscow. It was his last training flight before being allowed to fly solo again. After take-off, the plane vanished from radar. Witnesses describe no noise from the engines and then seeing white smoke as they came back to life, shortly before the plane disappeared over a forest, followed by an explosion. The plane had exploded and both pilots had died. Results from the official investigation were not made public and the silence prompted rumours and several conspiracy theories to develop to explain Gagarin’s death. Eventually in 2011, documents from the KGB were unclassified and showed their findings which suggest that the accident was most likely caused by a manoeuvre to either avoid a weather balloon or another aircraft.

Yuri Gagarin was, and still is, treated like a national treasure in Russia. Travelling the world to celebrate the historic achievement helped him also become an international hero. On the 12th April each year, the people of Russia celebrate Cosmonautics Day, the anniversary of the day that Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. Since the year 2000, the same day is celebrated worldwide as “Yuri’s Night”, named after Gagarin and commemorating milestones in space exploration.