Vostok 1
Vostok 1 (Russian: Восто́к, East or Orient 1) was the first flight to take a human into space. It used a Vostok 3KA spacecraft, and was launched on April 12, 1961.[7] It took into space Yuri Gagarin, a cosmonaut from the Soviet Union. The Vostok 1 mission was the first time a person went into outer space and the first time anyone had entered into orbit. The flight made one orbit and lasted for 1 hour, 48 minutes.[7]: 53 The Vostok 1 was launched by the Soviet space program and made by the Soviet rocket scientists Sergei Korolev and Kerim Kerimov.
 Model of the Vostok spacecraft | |
| Operator | Soviet space program |
|---|---|
| Harvard designation | 1961 Mu 1 |
| COSPAR ID | 1961-012A |
| SATCAT no. | 103 |
| Mission duration | 1 hour, 48 minutes[1] |
| Orbits completed | 1 |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Vostok-3KA No.3 |
| Manufacturer | Experimental Design Bureau OKB-1 |
| Launch mass | 4,725 kg (10,417 lb)[1] |
| Landing mass | 2,400 kg (5,290 lb) |
| Dimensions | 2.30 m (7 ft 6.5 in) diameter |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 1 |
| Members | Yuri Gagarin |
| Callsign | Кедр (Kedr – Siberian pine)[2] |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | April 12, 1961, 06:07 UTC[3] |
| Rocket | Vostok-K 8K72K |
| Launch site | Baikonur 1/5 45°55′13″N 63°20′32″E / 45.920278°N 63.342222°E[4] |
| End of mission | |
| Landing date | April 12, 1961, 07:55 UTC |
| Landing site | 51°16′14″N 45°59′50″E / 51.270682°N 45.99727°E[5][6] |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Perigee | 169 km (91 nmi)[3] |
| Apogee | 327 km (177 nmi)[1] |
| Inclination | 64.95 degrees[3] |
| Period | 89.1 minutes |
| Epoch | April 12, 1961 |
 Yuri Gagarin in Sweden Vostok programme Manned flights | |
The Vostok spacecraft weighed 4.73 t (10,400 lb), was 4.4 m (14 ft) long and 2.43 m (8.0 ft) in diameter.[7]: 52 The cosmonaut flew inside a spherical module. He sat on a seat which was also an ejection seat which allowed the cosmonaut to escape from the spacecraft in case of an emergency. The flight was simple, the cosmonaut was simply a passenger.[7]: 52 There were controls for use in an emergency.[8] The spacecraft had a food locker, radio, a cabinet with experiments inside, and two windows, one above the ejection seat and one to the right.. Gagarin ejected from the spacecraft after re-entry and landed by parachute.
There were six manned Vostok flights, the last one, Vostok 6, carried Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman to go into space on June 16, 1963.[7]: 53
References
change- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Aviation and Space World Records". Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). Archived from the original on July 26, 2009. Retrieved March 12, 2009.
- ↑ Siddiqi, p.275
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Vostok 1 – NSSDC ID: 1961-012A". NASA. Archived from the original on December 13, 2012. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
- ↑ "Google Maps – Vostok 1 Launch Pad – Gagarin's Start photo". Retrieved December 25, 2010.
- ↑ "Google Maps – Vostok 1 Landing Site – Monument". Retrieved December 25, 2010.
- ↑ "Google Maps – Vostok 1 Landing Site – Monument Photo". Retrieved December 25, 2010.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Furniss, Tim (2001). The History of Space Vehicles. London: Grange Books. ISBN 1-84013-370-8.
- ↑ "Vostok 1". astronautix.com. 2011. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
