58 years ago today, Yuri Gagarin blasted into orbit, the first time any human had ever done so.
The Americans were not far behind, in one way. Less than a month later, Alan Shepard took off. But while Shepard travelled for 15 minutes in his sub-orbital flight, and came down only a short distance from his launch site, Yuri Alekseyevich made one full orbit. Unlike the somewhat reserved Neil Armstrong, Yuri Alekseyevich was a natural in front of the cameras - friendly, sociable, gregarious (possibly why he was chosen). It was more than ten months until the Americans (specifically, John Glenn) topped Yuri Alekseyevich's feat by making several earth orbits; long before, Gherman Titov had spent more than a day in space.
Yuri Alekseyevich died in a test flight in 1968, at the young age of 34. But he lives on in our memories.