Gagarin’s personal role was perhaps more symbolic than instrumental – but no less courageous or momentous for that. The Wright Brothers’ flight at Kitty Hawk (1903) was perhaps another such moment – and we find ourselves as far from Gagarin’s flight as his was from theirs. The great ocean explorations of Magellan, Columbus, Cook or Ross widened the chart, while the conceptual transformations of Nicolaus Copernicus and Edwin Hubble changed our own place within it. To find parallels in history, we need to look for moments and people who redefined the maps of their own age and civilizations. Hindsight blinds us to the novelty of that moment. 61 years since Yuri Gagarin left the known world – indeed ascended beyond the world itself – and looked back on planet Earth. ![]() ![]() We are 61 years into the human spaceflight era. Yuri Gagarin the first human into space - (Robert Couse-Baker/TASS/NASA) RICHARD LOWE from the RAeS Space Group explains. However, we are now on the cusp of a new era with a growing number of private and governmental astronauts, along with ‘space tourists’ set to venture into space. ![]() Since Yuri Gagarin became the first human to launch into orbit in 1961, a small number of men and women have followed in his footsteps.
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