A Booster The Blows Up As Often As It Goes Up
Part 1 of 2 By Wes Oleszewski
On the 12th day of April 1961, deep behind the Iron Curtain of
the Soviet Union and under absolute secrecy, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin
was launched into orbit. After circling the earth one time his
Vostok spacecraft reentered the Earth's atmosphere. Somewhere
around 23,000 feet Gagarin blew the hatch, ejected from the
spacecraft and parachuted to the earth. He thus became the first
human to orbit the earth.