Gagarin's Start

At the launch site of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, a historic moment occurred on April 12, 1961, when the Vostok spacecraft with Yuri Gagarin on board became the first in the world to travel into space. This cosmodrome was also the site from which the first successful R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile complex was launched on August 21, 1957, and on October 4, 1957, the first artificial Earth satellite was launched. The Baikonur site was often used in the USSR for various manned and unmanned missions using R-7 family launch vehicles, which were developed based on the first Soviet R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile.