User talk:Roshanpathak11

'''today is the 50th anniversary of first human spaceflight..........

Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to enter space and orbit the Earth, helping boost the Soviet space program and intensify the space race with the United States.

The diminutive Gagarin, who stood a mere 5-foot-2, appeared ready to pursue a career as an industrial worker but found his passion for flying while attending technical school. He entered military flight training and earned his pilot’s wings at the controls of a MiG-15. In 1960, he was selected as one of the Soviet Union's first class of 20 cosmonauts. He excelled in the training and so was chosen to be the first man to enter space -- and perhaps partly because the Vostok-1 capsule was so cramped.

Space flight being very much a crapshoot at the time, Soviet authorities figured Gagarin was just as likely to die upon re-entering the atmosphere as he was to return safely. But return he did and Premier Nikita Khrushchev, who hoped to use Gagarin’s success to strengthen the Soviet Union’s ballistic missile program, rushed to his side to bask in a little reflected glory.

Twenty-three days later, on May 5, Alan Shepard became the first American to enter sub-orbital space but it took nearly a year before a U.S. astronaut -- John Glenn aboard Friendship 7 -- successfully orbited the E'''