Yuri Gagarin was born in Klushino near Gzhatsk , a region west of Moscow, Russia, on March 9 , 1939.He was a Soviet cosmonaut who in 1961 became the first person in space and the first human to orbit the Earth.The adjacent town of Gzhatsk was renamed Gagarin in 1968 in his honor.
Yuri Gagarin’s parents worked on a collective farm.His mother was reportedly a voracious reader, and his father a skilled carpenter.He was the third of four children in his family.Gagarin’s teachers described him as intelligent and hard-working.
After starting an apprenticeship in a metalworks as a foundryman, Gagarin was selected for further training at a high technical school in Saratov.While there, he joined the " AeroClub," and learned how to fly a light aircraft. In 1955, after completing his technical schooling, he entered military flight training at the Orenburg Pilot’s School. While there he met Valentina Goryacheva, whom he married in 1957 , after gaining his pilot’s wings in a MIG-15.
In 1960, an extensive search and selection process saw Yuri Gagarin , as one of 20 cosmonauts , selected for the Soviet space program.Out of the 20 selected, the eventual choices for the first launch were Gagarin and Gherman Titov, because of their excellent performance in training , as well as their physical characteristics.On April 12 , 1961, Gagarin became the first human to travel into space in Vostok 3KA-2 ( Vostok 1) . He lost his life in a training accident on March 27, 1968.