60 years ago, 27-year-old Russian cosmonaut Yuri Alexeivich Gagarin was strapped into a Vostok capsule and launched 188 miles out into space. On a spring morning at 06.07 am UT on April 12th 1961, ascending slowly from a Baikonur cosmodrome launch-pad set in the Kazakhstan steppes, he was to make history. Gagarin became the first ever human being to leave the Earth's surface and experience a new environment in the zero-gravity of the cosmos. He completed what was very nearly a full orbit of the Earth and travelled at almost 18,000 mph, moving around the planet at an extraordinary 5 miles a second.

Nick Spall tells the intriguing story of the human and technological achievements of Yuri Gagarin’s historic flight.

Nick Spall presented his paper to the RAeS Space Group Conference, Yuri Gagarin’s legacy, 50 years on: securing the vision for the next half century. The event was held on 16 March 2011, the session was chaired by Pat Norris FRAeS and the podcast was edited by Eur Ing Mike Stanberry FRAeS.