New Delhi: Today man has reached 'Moon' and is looking for life on 'Mars' planet. But do you know who it was that first step into space? After seven flight tests, 'Vostok-1' was ready to take humans to space. On April 12, 1961, a 27-year-old Soviet Air Force pilot made history by stepping into space. He was the pilot, Yuri Gagarin of Russia.

On 27 March 1968, while Yuri Gagarin was operating a training aircraft called the MiG-15, he died during the plane crash. Let us tell you that on April 12, 1961, the former Soviet Union astronaut Yuri Gagarin flew for space by sitting in 'Vostok-1'. International Day of Human Space Flight is observed on 12 April every year in memory of this day. You may be a little surprised to know that before Gagarin, on November 3, 1957, the female dog 'Laika' was sent into space. 

However, she could survive only six hours in space but died due to the high temperature of the Chamber. Rakesh Sharma was the first Indian to reach space in April 1984. Ravish Malhotra, Kalpana Chawla, Sunita Williams have also traveled to space after them.

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