Four years after Sputnik, on 12 April 1961, the USSR sent a man into space. Yuri Gagarin, a carpenter's son, became the first cosmonaut in history when he took off from the same Baikonour base as Sputnik for an orbit of the Earth lasting almost 2 hours. Selected along with 19 comrades, Gagarin was chosen for the historic mission because of his small stature - he had to squeeze into the Vostok craft - humble origins and engaging personality. Hailed as a Soviet hero, Gagarin would never return to space and died in an air crash on 27 March 1968.