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I actually knew a woman from Sweden who was at the 1961 parade in Red Square when Yuri was paraded in front of the crowd. Mandible dropping. Since Gagarin died some seven years after his trip, she was part of a lucky elite. Sadly she's no longer with us, either.
Gagarin orbited the earth on his first flight. The first American space mission, in the same year with Alan Shepard, lasted 15 minutes. No orbit. Spacewise, the Russians were clearly ahead back then.
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