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At 9:07 a.m. Moscow time on 12th April, 1961, Yuri Gagarin lifted off into space aboard the Vostok 1. Approximately 12 minutes later, the first human being was in orbit around the Earth at a speed of more than 17,000 miles per hour. His flight lasted 108 minutes.

The 27-year-old Soviet cosmonaut became the first person to eat and drink in weightlessness. From his window in space, Gagarin was able to view the earth in a way that no human beings had done before. The first words spoken from space were - “I see the Earth. It is so beautiful!”