12 April 1961 Yuri Gagarin first person to orbit the earth

On 12 April 1961, aboard Vostok 1, Gagarin became both the first human to travel into space and the first to orbit the earth. His call sign was Kedr (Cedar)

In his post-flight report, Gagarin recalled his experience of spaceflight, having been the first human in space. “The feeling of weightlessness was somewhat unfamiliar compared with Earth conditions. Here, you feel as if you were hanging in a horizontal position in straps. You feel as if you are suspended”.

Following the flight, Gagarin told the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev that during re-entry he had whistled the tune “The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows”  The first two lines of the song are: “The Motherland hears, the Motherland knows/Where her son flies in the sky“.