The first human being ever to enter space was Yuri Gagarin, a cosmonaut in the Soviet Union's space program. Gagarin launched into outer space on April 12, 1961. The name of Gagarin's spacecraft was the Vostok 1, a one-man craft. Gagarin's flight lasted 108 minutes and was an orbital flight around the Earth. This was Gagarin's only flight into space. He was killed in a plane crash in 1968.
Alan Shepherd was the first United States astronaut to enter into space, making him the second person in history to achieve spaceflight. Shepherd embarked on his space voyage on May 5, 1961, less than a month after Yuri Gagarin's historic flight. As a member of NASA's Mercury program, Shepherd manned the Freedom 7, a one-man Mercury-class spacecraft. Shepherd would also participate in the Apollo 14 mission, which was NASA's third successful lunar operation.
On Feb. 20, 1962, John Glenn became the first NASA astronaut to orbit the Earth. Glenn flew into outer space aboard the one-man Friendship 7, a Mercury-class spacecraft. During this mission, Glenn completely the Earth three times and the mission lasted four hours and 55 minutes. Glenn would not return to space until 1998 when he joined the Space Shuttle Discovery's crew for a study on space flight's effects on elderly people. The flight made Glenn, then 77 years of age, the oldest person to enter space.
As commander of the Apollo 11 mission, Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon. Prior to Apollo 11, Armstrong participated in NASA's Gemini program, a series of two-man space flights. One flight with Armstrong, the Gemini 8, was the first successful test of two spacecrafts meeting at a rendezvous point and docking in orbit. The date of the Apollo 11 moon landing was July 20, 1969. The Apollo 11 mission was Armstrong's last NASA mission.
Vladimir Remek was the first non-U.S. and non-Soviet person to fly into space. Remek, a native of the modern-day Czech Republic, flew as a member of the Soviet Union's cosmonaut program. During his spaceflight, Remek was aboard the Soyuz 28, a two-man spacecraft. The Soyuz 28's stay in space lasted for eight days in March 1976. This flight would be Remek's only experience in outer space. Remek eventually became the director of the Kbely Aviation Museum in Praque, Czech Republic.