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A Soviet commemorative cover featuring a cachet honoring Gagarin's Vostok 1 flight, with a red Moscow postmark dated April 12, 1961. The cover is signed by Yuri Gagarin, the first man to orbit the Earth. - RRAuction
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Since the launch of Sputnik 1 by the Soviet Union in 1957, both the Soviet Union and the United States have been engaged in a race for spaceflight achievements, particularly aimed at launching the first human into space. In secret, the Soviet Union advanced its Vostok program to compete with the United States' Project Mercury. The Vostok program conducted several precursor uncrewed missions between May 1960 and March 1961 to test and develop the Vostok rocket family and space capsule. These missions varied in success, but the last two—
Korabl-Sputnik 4 and
Korabl-Sputnik 5—were fully successful, paving the way for the first crewed flight.
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| Photo: Yuri Gagarin, the first man to travel into space. |
On April 12, 1961, the Soviet Union launched Vostok 1, the world's first manned space mission. Cosmonaut
Yuri Gagarin, the pilot of Vostok 1, became the first human to achieve orbital velocity and complete a full orbit around the Earth. The Vostok 1 capsule was designed to accommodate a single cosmonaut, and the mission was controlled by either automatic systems or ground control. The orbital flight involved a single orbit around the Earth, reaching a minimum altitude of 169 kilometers (91 nautical miles) in the upper atmosphere. Gagarin ejected from the capsule at an altitude of 7 kilometers (23,000 feet) and parachuted separately to the ground. The entire mission lasted 1 hour and 48 minutes from launch to landing.
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| A Vostok 1 KNIGA cover featuring a black Moscow postmark dated April 12, 1961, signed by Yuri Gagarin. |
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| Photo signed by Yuri Gagarin. |
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| Photo: Interior of the Vostok 1 capsule. |
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| A Vostok 1 cover featuring a red Kiev special postmark dated April 12, 1961. |
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| Photo: Yuri Gagarin at the launch site. These images were released on April 15, 1961, just a few days after the Vostok 1 flight. |
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| A Vostok 1 cover featuring a black Kiev special postmark dated April 12, 1961. |
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| Photo: Yuri Gagarin's space flight itinerary on April 12, 1961. |
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| A Vostok 1 postal cover featuring a black Kiev special postmark dated April 12, 1961. This cover was postmarked at the Kiev (Киев) post office on April 12, 1961, and received in Kaluga (Калуга) on April 16, 1961. |
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| Photo: Yuri Gagarin and Premier Nikita Khrushchev waving to the crowd at Moscow airport on April 14, 1961. |
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| A Vostok 1 cover featuring a Vinnitza postmark dated April 12, 1961. |
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| Photo: Gagarin applauds himself at Press Conference in Moscow. The cosmonaut, seen on the left before a bust of Lenin, is joined by A.N. Nesmeyanov, president of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, on the right. Gagarin did not provide specific details about his journey or spacecraft. |
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| A Vostok 1 cover featuring a Frounze postmark dated April 12, 1961. |
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| A Vostok 1 cover featuring a Perm postmark dated April 12, 1961. |
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| Photo: Yuri Gagarin responding to questions about his spaceflight during a news conference in Moscow on April 15, 1961. |
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| A Vostok 1 cover featuring a Krasnodar postmark dated April 12, 1961. |
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| A Vostok 1 cover featuring a Sverdlovsk postmark dated April 12, 1961. |
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| Photo: Yuri Gagarin receiving a medal during the news conference in Moscow on April 15, 1961. |
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| A Vostok 1 cover featuring a special Minsk postmark dated April 12, 1961. |
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| Two Vostok 1 covers, each featuring a different cachet of Yuri Gagarin, both with a Vinnitza postmark dated April 12, 1961. |
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| Photo: Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin smiled broadly in London while holding a British Interplanetary medal. At a news conference, he mentioned that he would like to visit the United States, but added, "I have not been invited." |
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| A postcard featuring a portrait of Yuri Gagarin, canceled with a Vostok 1 stamp depicting him, and bearing a Vinnitza postmark dated April 12, 1961. |
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| Photo: Yuri Gagarin (right) converses with Dr. A.C.B. Lovell of Jodrell Bank Observatory, who tracked the Vostok 1 spacecraft during Gagarin's flight. |
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| Photo: Yuri Gagarin stands in an open car outside the Russian Embassy in London, responding to cheers as he departs for the airport, concluding his visit to England from July 11 to 15, 1961. |
(Reference from
Vostok 1)
