Vostok 1

The words

1. Cedar

   Kedr is Russian for cedar.

   Gagarin used Kedr as his radio call sign during Vostok 1. Ground controllers used Zarya-1 for the launch-site station, distinguishing them from the cosmonaut.

   Did you know?

   While waiting in the launch capsule, Gagarin asked for some music over the radio. Korolev relayed the request to the ground team.

   p. 275 · Siddiqi: Gagarin’s flight and welcome (opens a new tab)

2. Cosmonaut

   The Russian term for a space traveler.

   Gagarin became the first cosmonaut to fly in space. After Vostok 1, he helped prepare other cosmonauts as the training center’s deputy training director.

   NASA: Gagarin’s flight and later life (opens a new tab) · NASA: space-word glossary (opens a new tab)

3. Descent Module

   Vostok 1’s spherical descent module carried Gagarin back through the atmosphere. During reentry, cables briefly kept it attached to the equipment module before the two sections separated.

   ESA: Vostok 1’s flight and landing (opens a new tab)

4. Ejection Seat

   Gagarin left the returning Vostok capsule in an ejection seat. He then descended under his own parachute, landing separately from the spacecraft.

   ESA: Vostok 1’s flight and landing (opens a new tab)

5. Engels

   Engels, a town in the Saratov region, provided a reference point for locating Gagarin’s landing. He and the capsule came down southwest of it.

   ESA: Vostok 1’s flight and landing (opens a new tab)

6. Gagarin

   Yuri Gagarin became the first human to fly in space on April 12, 1961. He died with flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin in a training-aircraft crash on March 27, 1968.

   NASA: Gagarin’s flight and later life (opens a new tab)

7. Khrushchev

   Before Gagarin’s launch, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev proposed a Kremlin reception and Red Square parade. His April 11, 1961 note presented spaceflight as both a Soviet and a human achievement.

   pp. 1–3 · Khrushchev’s note before the launch (opens a new tab)

8. Levitan

   Radio announcer Yuri Levitan read the TASS report of Gagarin’s mission while the cosmonaut was still in space. The announcement identified the pilot and his spacecraft, Vostok.

   p. 278 · Siddiqi: Gagarin’s flight and welcome (opens a new tab)

9. Liver Paste

   Gagarin ate beef and liver paste squeezed from a tube during Vostok 1. The meal provided early evidence that a person could swallow food while weightless.

   Did you know?

   John Glenn later became the first American to eat in space. He ate applesauce from a tube resembling a toothpaste tube.

   NASA: the first meals in space (opens a new tab)

10. Major

    Gagarin received a promotion from senior lieutenant directly to major in connection with Vostok 1. Major was the rank used in the public flight announcement.

    Siddiqi: Gagarin’s flight and welcome (opens a new tab) · ESA: the flight announcement (opens a new tab)

11. Poyekhali

    Russian for “Let’s go!”

    Gagarin’s launch call became associated with the beginning of human spaceflight. He spoke the word as Vostok 1 left Baikonur on April 12, 1961.

    NASA: Gagarin’s flight and later life (opens a new tab)

12. Red Square

    Gagarin returned to Moscow on April 14, 1961. A motorcade brought him to Red Square, where Soviet leaders joined the public celebration of Vostok 1.

    p. 282 · Siddiqi: Gagarin’s flight and welcome (opens a new tab)

13. Saratov

    Gagarin recognized the Volga River as he descended into the Saratov region. He had practiced parachute jumping there during his earlier training.

    p. 281 · Siddiqi: Gagarin’s flight and welcome (opens a new tab)

14. Single Orbit

    Gagarin’s first spaceflight made a single circuit of Earth. His mission preceded the longer Vostok flights on which other cosmonauts spent several days in space.

    NASA: the first meals in space (opens a new tab)

15. Vostok One

    Vostok 1 launched from Baikonur on April 12, 1961, carrying Gagarin into Earth orbit. Automatic systems oriented the spacecraft for its return while he reported conditions by radio.

    ESA: Vostok 1’s flight and landing (opens a new tab)