April 1961: Yuri Gagarin makes first manned space flight

On April 14^th 1961, The Engineer’s reaction to the news that the Russians had succeeded in putting the first human in space was brief and to the point. “As we go press we learn that the Russians have scored yet another remarkable first in space,” it wrote. “Last Wednesday morning Mr Tovarich [sic] Gagarin was launched in a sealed capsule by rocket into an orbit that took him around the world in 108minutes. The capsule was brought safely back to the earth’s surface. Congratulations to The Russians!”

With no further detail forthcoming from the Russians, readers of The Engineer had to wait a few more weeks before a more detailed report - based on accounts from the Soviet press -  emerged of (the now correctly named) Major Yury Alexeyevich Gagarin’s historic flight aboard the “Vostok”.

The resulting article - published on May 12^th, 1961 – goes into considerable detail on the spacecraft, its instrumentation, and the build-up to the mission.