Sixty years ago today, the world was in awe as Russian Cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to break the bounds of the Earth and travel into outer space on board Vostok 1.
Fascinated with flight at an early age, he became a pilot and then joined the Soviet space program. After the flight to space, he became an international celebrity.
The photo shows him signing autographs at a youth conference with Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space on board Vostok 6. Prior to becoming a Cosmonaut, she worked in a textile factory and was a skydiver.
Photo credit:ÌýRIA Novosti archive, Yuriv Somov