On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first person to travel into space. Exactly sixty years ago, the Soviet Union scored a huge victory in the space race against the United States by launching the Soviet cosmonaut, the son of farmers and fascinated by airplanes, into orbit. Six decades later, his journey is shrouded in myth, aided by the secrecy of the communist regime at the time. Below are some of the episodes that have become legendary, the first time man left the confines of Earth to begin space exploration.
