where was the first person in space from
First man in space. On 12 April 1961 Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space when he orbited the Earth once during a 108 minute flight. In 1960 Gagarin, a fighter pilot, was shortlisted for the Vostok 1 programme, which built on the success of Sputnik 1 just three years earlier. German Titov was Gagarin's closest rival for selection-both men tried to impress space programme director Sergei Korolev.