The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.Psalms 19:1

Fifty years ago on April 12, with a rousing cry of “Poekhali!” (“Let’s Go!”), cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin raced skywards to become the first human in space. Colonel Yuri A. Gagarin, popularly called “The Columbus of the Cosmos,” was born on a collective farm in a region west of Moscow, Russia, on March 9, 1934. His father was a carpenter. Yuri attended the local school for six years and continued his education at vocational and technical Yuri Gagarin flew only one space mission. On April 12, 1961 he became the first human to orbit Earth. Gagarin's spacecraft, Vostok 1, circled Earth at a speed of 27,400 kilometers per hour. The flight lasted 108 minutes Once in orbit, Yuri Gagarin had no control over his spacecraft. Vostok's reentry was controlled by a computer program sending radio commands to the space capsule. Although the controls were locked, a key had been placed in a sealed envelope in case an emergency situation made it necessary for Gagarin to take control. As was planned, Cosmonaut Gagarin ejected after reentry into Earth's atmosphere at an altitude of 20,000 feet and landed by parachute