Gagarin, Yuri Alekseyevich, << gah GAHR ihn, YOOR ee `ah` leh KSEH yuh vihch >> (1934-1968), a Soviet air force pilot, was the first human to travel in space. Gagarin circled the earth on April 12, 1961, at a speed of more than 17,000 mph (27,400 kph). The trip lasted 1 hour and 48 minutes. His spacecraft Vostok 1 was in orbit for 89.1 minutes. At the highest point, Gagarin was about 203 miles (327 kilometers) above the earth. He was killed in a plane crash in 1968.
Gagarin was born on March 9, 1934, near Gzhatsk, west of Moscow. He attended vocational and technical schools and graduated from the Soviet air force cadet training center. He died on March 27, 1968.
