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Yuri Gagarin Facts & Worksheets

Yuri Gargarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who was the first human to go into space. He finished one orbit of Earth in the Vostok 1 capsule on April 12, 1961.

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As a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut, Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, or simply Yuri Gagarin, was the first human to go into space. He finished one orbit of Earth using the Vostok 1 capsule on April 12, 1961. As a result, he gained popularity and received numerous awards and titles in the Space Race. He was even awarded the highest honor his country could bestow, the Hero of the Soviet Union.

See the fact file below for more information on astronaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin or alternatively, download our comprehensive worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.

Facts & Information

Early Life

  • On March 9, 1934, the third child of Aleksey Ivanovich Gagarin and Anna Timofeyevna Gagarina was born in the village of Klushino, a part of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, as Yuri Gagarin.
  • Their family lived a farm life with his father working as a carpenter and his mother as a dairy farmer.
  • His family suffered greatly during the Nazi occupation of Europe during World War II when the retreat of soldiers posed a threat to the farm’s livestock.
  • On October 18, 1941, the Nazis occupied Gagarin’s hometown of Klushino. They burned down the village school, which significantly impacted Yuri’s education because it was supposed to be his first year of school.
  • When the Nazi soldiers destroyed 27 houses in the village by fire, the residents were obliged to work for them.
  • A German officer took over Gagarin’s house. The officer permitted them to construct a small hut behind their house, which they inhabited for 21 months.
  • Yuri has been attempting to sabotage German soldiers since one of them attempted to hang his younger brother from an apple tree. He occasionally poured soil into the German tank batteries and mixed the various chemical supplies.
  • The Germans deported his two elder siblings to Poland in 1943, where they were enslaved. They managed to escape and were found by Soviet soldiers. However, they were only able to return home in 1945 because Soviet soldiers pushed them to help during the war.
  • Because it took so long for the two Gagarin’s to return home, the family assumed they had died. It made Yuri sick because he was grieving while starving. The German forces asked him to work for them, but he refused and was beaten. He became so ill that he was confined to a hospital for the rest of the war.
  • His mother was also hospitalized when a German soldier gashed her leg with a scythe.
  • The Germans finally left Klushino on March 9, 1944. Yuri assisted the Red Army in locating mines buried in the roads where the German army fled.
  • Gagarin’s family relocated to Gzhatsk about a year after WWII. Yuri could continue his education.
  • After enrolling in a school built and operated by a volunteer teacher, he and his younger brother learned to read using a discarded Russian military manual. Soon after, a former Russian airman entered the school and began teaching math and science, which became Yuri’s favorite subjects.
  • Yuri joined a group of kids who assembled model airplanes. He had been fascinated by aircraft since childhood, particularly after a Yakovlev fighter plane crashed in their village during the war.
  • At the age of 16, Gagarin began working as a foundryman apprentice in a steel plant in Lyubertsy, Moscow, while attending a local school for young workers for seventh grade, where evening classes were held.
  • He graduated from vocational school with honors in mold-making and foundry work.
  • He was chosen to be further trained at the Industrial Technical School in Saratov where he studied the mechanism of tractors.
  • Gagarin volunteered at a local flying club as a Soviet air cadet, where he learned to fly a biplane and the Yakovlev Yak-18.

Soviet Air Force

  • In 1955, Gagarin qualified for admission to the First Chkalovsky Higher Air Force Pilots School in Orenburg. He trained on the Yak-18 and MiG-15 in less than a year.
  • After failing to land the two-seater trainer aircraft twice, he was almost dismissed from pilot training, but the commander gave him another chance.
  • He made a successful landing after his flight instructor gave him a cushion to sit on so he could get a better view of the cockpit.
  • Gagarin began solo flight in 1957.
  • On November 5, he had 166 hours and 47 minutes of flight time and was assigned to the Soviet Air Forces as a lieutenant. The next day, he graduated from flight school.
  • He was assigned to the Northern Fleet’s Loustari Air Base for two years.
  • He received his Military Pilot 3rd Class rating on July 7, 1959.
  • After the Luna 3 was launched on October 6, he expressed an interest in space exploration. Lieutenant Colonel Babushkin recommended him for the Soviet space program.
  • After one month, he was promoted to senior lieutenant, and three weeks later, he was interviewed for space program qualification.

Soviet Space Program

  • Gagarin was not chosen for the Vostok program right away.
  • Only 29 of the 154 qualified pilots were chosen as cosmonaut candidates, and only 20 were approved by the Soviet government’s Credential Committee. Gagarin was among the first twelve people to be approved on March 7, 1960.
  • Gagarin was so popular among his peers that when asked to vote for another candidate to be the first to fly, only three did not vote for him.
  • On May 30, he was chosen to be a member of the Vanguard Six, also known as the Sochi Six.
  • Gagarin was subjected to tests such as oxygen deprivation, in which the cosmonauts were isolated in a chamber while the air was slowly pumped out. He also underwent a psychological evaluation in an anechoic chamber, where he was isolated from July 26 to August 5.
  • According to the doctors, Gagarin was modest, persevering, and had a high level of intellectual development and quick reactions.

Vostok 1

  • The Vostok 1 spacecraft, which carried Gagarin as the first human into space, was launched on April 12, 1961.
  • “Off we go! Goodbye, until [we meet] soon, dear friends,” he said over the radio as the rocket took off.
  • Because of the flight’s success, Gagarin was hailed as a hero in the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. In a ceremony, Nikita Khrushchev named him the Hero of the Soviet Union. Many other cities in the Soviet Union and around the world celebrated the Soviet space program’s success.
  • Gagarin was appointed as a Soviet Union deputy in 1962. It was also the year he was elected to the Young Communist League’s Central Committee. He later returned to the cosmonaut facility and spent several years developing reusable spacecraft.
  • On June 12, 1962, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the Air Forces, and on November 6, 1963, he was promoted to colonel. He started as the Deputy Training Director of the cosmonaut training facility on December 20, the same year.

Soyuz 1

  • Soviet officials attempted to prevent Gagarin from flying again after the success of his first space flight with Vostok 1. Gagarin was still considered for Soyuz 1, but he was replaced by Komarov. Despite this, he was reassigned to Soyuz 3.
  • Despite Gagarin’s protests that more safety precautions were required, Soyuz 1 was launched. He gave Komarov more instructions while accompanying him to the rocket before its launch. Komarov was killed when the launch failed.
  • Gagarin was held accountable for the crash of Soyuz 1. He was disqualified from both training cosmonauts and flying in space. His prohibition included solo flight. These prohibitions also took the Soyuz 3 away from him.
  • He concentrated on academics in the hopes of resuming flight training. On February 17, 1968, he graduated with honors from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy after successfully defending his thesis on aerospace engineering.

Death

  • Gagarin took a routine training flight with Vladimir Seryogin as his flight instructor on March 27, 1968. Unfortunately, their MiG-15UTI crashed near the village of Kirzhach. It was the cause of their deaths.
  • Separate investigations were conducted by the Air Force, government commissions, and the KGB into the crash.
  • According to the KGB, an air traffic controller gave Gagarin outdated weather information. They also discovered that the ground crew had left the aircraft’s external fuel tanks attached. Nevertheless, the investigation concluded that Gagarin might have either encountered a bird strike or suddenly avoided another aircraft, causing it to enter a spin. An outdated weather report could have caused the MiG-15’s incorrect reaction.
  • Another theory emerged in 2005, claiming that a cabin air vent was accidentally left open by a crew, causing oxygen deprivation in Gagarin and Seryogin and rendering the pilot incapable of controlling the aircraft. It’s possible they didn’t notice because oxygen deprivation was a part of their training.

Yuri Gagarin Worksheets

This bundle contains 11 ready-to-use Yuri Gagarin worksheets that are perfect for students who want to learn more about astronaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin who was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on 12 April 1961.

Download includes the following worksheets:

  • Yuri Gagarin Facts
  • Fact Sheet
  • First Man in Space
  • Hero of the Soviet Union
  • Beauty of the Earth I
  • Beauty of the Earth II
  • Vostok 1 Spacecraft
  • Earth’s Gravitational Pull
  • Gagarin as the “First Man in Space”
  • The Space Race
  • Space Travel

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was the first man in space?

As a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut, Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, or simply Yuri Gagarin, was the first human to go into space.

Did Yuri Gagarin die in space?

No. Gagarin took a routine training flight with Vladimir Seryogin as his flight instructor on March 27, 1968. Unfortunately, their MiG-15UTI crashed near the village of Kirzhach. It was the cause of their deaths.

What were Yuri Gagarin’s last words before the takeoff?

“Off we go! Goodbye, until [we meet] soon, dear friends,” he said over the radio as the rocket took off.

What is Yuri Gagarin famous for?

Because of the flight’s (of the Vostok 1) success, Gagarin was hailed as a hero in the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. In a ceremony, Nikita Khrushchev named him the Hero of the Soviet Union. Many other cities in the Soviet Union and around the world celebrated the Soviet space program’s success.

How many times did Yuri Gagarin orbit the Earth?

Soviet officials attempted to prevent Gagarin from flying again after the success of his first space flight with Vostok 1. Gagarin was still considered for Soyuz 1, but he was replaced by Komarov. Despite this, he was reassigned to Soyuz 3. Gagarin was held accountable for the crash of Soyuz 1. He was disqualified from both training cosmonauts and flying in space. His prohibition included solo flight. These prohibitions also took the Soyuz 3 away from him.

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