On April 12, 1961 Yuri Gagarin performs first ever space flight on the "Vostok" spaceship, designed in S.P. Korolev's experimental design office, makes one turn around the Earth, spending 108 minutes in space, and successfully lands near Smelovka village of Saratov Oblast. After the flight Gagarin develops his skills as a pilot and a cosmonaut and directly participates in training and practice of astronaut crews, as well as in mission management of "Vostok", "Voskhod" and "Soyuz" spaceships.
Still think it looks like something from a Buck Rogers show! Man....to go up in something as primitive as the spacecraft available at the time....no matter which country you hailed from, I gotta tip my hat. Huge titanium cahones they had!!!