Launch of Vostok 1. Computer artwork of the launch of Vostok 1 spacecraft carrying Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968) on the first manned flight in space. Vostok-1 was launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on 12 April 1961. The flight lasted 1 hour and 48 minutes from lift-off to touch-down, and made one orbit of Earth. Gagarin died on 27th March 1968 in a plane crash while training for another space mission.