Yuri Gagarin

Yuri Gagarin is born to a carpenter and a milkmaid on a collective farm near Gzhatsk (later renamed Gagarin). Under Nazi occupation his family is turned out of their home.

After foundry school and flying club, Gagarin joins the air force and flies MiGs in the Arctic north, the profile the cosmonaut selectors seek.

Twenty air-force pilots are chosen in 1960 and trained for the first flights under Kamanin and physician-selectors.

In August 1960 Sputnik 5 carries two dogs, rabbits, mice, flies and plants into orbit and back, the first Earth-orbital biological payload recovered alive, the direct proof of concept for Gagarin.

Chosen among twenty pilots, Gagarin's calm, small stature (an advantage in the cramped Vostok) and easy charm mark him out. Korolev takes to him personally.

Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space aboard Vostok 1. The USSR wins the opening round of the crewed race; Gagarin's smile becomes the face of Soviet modernity.

A final Vostok test flies the dog Chernushka and a mannequin, 'Ivan Ivanovich', with a tape recorder aboard, to prove the life-support and recovery systems weeks before Gagarin.

Western radio hobbyists (the Judica-Cordiglia brothers) claim to hear dying cosmonauts before Gagarin. No evidence supports secret fatal launches, but the secrecy of the programme makes such myths unkillable, the exact myth-space the novel exploits.

Korolev's Vostok carries the first human into space. He watches from the bunker, having personally chosen Gagarin.

Gagarin orbits the Earth once aboard Vostok 1 and, by later accounts, ejects to parachute down separately. 'Let's go!' he says at launch. He returns the most famous man alive.

Gagarin travels the world as the human face of Soviet achievement; the state, fearing the loss of its icon, is reluctant to risk him on another flight.

Gagarin serves as backup to his friend Komarov on Soyuz 1 and reportedly argues that the spacecraft is not ready. Komarov flies and dies.

Gagarin dies with instructor Seregin when their MiG-15 crashes near the village of Novosyolovo in the Kirzhach district. The cause stays disputed for decades, a symbol of how much the programme kept hidden even about its greatest hero.