जीवनी

To commemorate his feat as a cosmonaut and being the first human in space, a crater on the moon is named after him. In July 1971 when the crew on Apollo 15 visited the moon, they left a plaque in memory of 14 men, Russians and Americans, who died in the struggle to help human-kind into Space. Gagarin was one of those names.

From 1962 he served as a deputy to the Supreme Soviet, but later returned to "Star City", the cosmonaut facility, where he worked on designs for a reusable spacecraft. In 1967, he was selected as backup for the first Soyuz launch. The Soyuz capsule's parachute failed during reentry and the craft crashed, killing Vladimir Komarov.

After the space flight, he became an instant, worldwide celebrity, touring widely to promote the Soviet achievement. He proved quite adept at handling the publicity. However, it appeared to gradually wear him down, and he became a heavy drinker as a result.

While in orbit he was promoted "in the field" from the lowly rank of Second Lieutenant to Major - and this was the rank at which TASS announced him in its triumphant statement during the flight.

Rumors that he was drunk during his fatal flight are incorrect. He passed two medical examinations before the flight, and post-mortem tests found no evidence of alcohol or drugs in his system. A new theory, advanced by the original crash investigator in 2005, hypothesises that a cabin vent was accidentally left open by the crew or the previous pilot, thus leading to oxygen deprivation and leaving the crew incapable of controlling the aircraft. The Russian press reported he stayed with the aircraft to avoid it hitting a school, although this may have been apocryphal.