The first astronaut in space was Alan Shepard, May 5th, 1961. The first man in space, however, was a cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, on April 12th, 1961. Incidentally the first space shuttle launch was on the 20th anniversary of Gagarin's space flight, on April 12th, 1981. That fact was completely missed in mainstream media coverage.
2006-12-30 03:09:13
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answer #1
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answered by David A 5
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The first human in space was Russian Yuri Gagarin - the Soviet cosmonaut, who was launched into space on April 12, 1961 aboard Vostok 1.
Gagarin piloted the Vostok 1 in its 1.30 hrs flight and orbited the earth once. The spacecraft was recovered later that day in the Saratov region of the soviet Union.
If by "1st astronaut in space" u mean the first to do a spacecwalk
it was doen by Alexei Leonov(again a soviat guy) in 65 from Voskhod 2
2006-12-30 11:13:01
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answer #2
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answered by Tharu 3
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The Soviets refer to their space travellers as "cosmonauts" and the USA's are "astronauts".
On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin was the first person in space, and also the first person to go into orbit.
On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard was the first human astronaut to go into space, though his flight did not go into orbit. It just went up and down (rather like Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne).
Before Shepard made his flight, a chimpanzee named Ham made a similar flight, though he is not really regarded as an astronaut :)
On February 20, 1962, John Glenn became the first American Astronaut to orbit the Earth.
One thing that is not widely realised is that Gagarin and the other Vostok cosmonauts ejected from their craft before touchdown, and came down on their own parachute, as they came down on land and it wasn't known just how hard the landing would be.
As a result, under international rules, they did not actually complete their spaceflight, though this wasn't admitted for several years. As a result, Shepard was actually the first person to complete a spaceflight!
2006-12-30 19:14:12
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answer #3
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answered by Questor 4
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Yuri Gagarin was the first human in space.He was a Russian and went up on Vostok 1. But before that, we sent up dogs and other animals to see if the vacuum of space would still harm us even with spacesuits.
2006-12-30 16:30:48
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answer #4
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answered by karatechamp2007 1
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I concur with David A. The first man in space was not an astronaut but a cosmonaut. Sheppard was the first 'astronaut' in space.
The answer above mine is a classic example of information overkill.
2006-12-30 11:53:16
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answer #5
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answered by Tim C 4
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Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin. He was amazing. He orbited the earth on Vostok 1. April 12, 1961 he flew into space. He had an amazing life. I suggest you read about it. He was really interesting.
2007-01-01 00:28:51
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answer #6
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answered by May M 3
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First deliberately launched Human in Space was Yuri Gagarin. The first Human in space also landed on the moon. His name was Throckmorton Grendle. He was abducted for study from 13th century Earth and transported to our temporary base on the far side of your moon for study. He was not very anxious to return to the plague ridden England of the 1200s and asked to go with us when we left this system. He visited three other worlds with us and died 14 of your years later (his relativistic time) on the Gonfrix home world. He was homesick near the end.
2006-12-30 13:43:04
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answer #7
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answered by iknowtruthismine 7
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First astronaut was a monkey named Ham. First cosmonaut was Gargarin.
The question was: who was the first ASTRONAUT.
2006-12-30 11:54:01
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answer #8
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answered by ConstElation 6
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Some bacterium on Sputnik 1.
2006-12-30 17:46:35
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answer #9
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answered by Nomadd 7
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yuri gagaring ....he was a russian astronaut who went in space in vostok 1...................but even b4 that we sent some animals like dogs and monkeys inspace to 'see if humans can survive in space or not'
2006-12-30 11:08:18
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answer #10
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answered by rachit t 2
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