Vostok 1 spacecraft re-entry. Artwork of the Vostok 1 spacecraft heating up during re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere during the historic spaceflight by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968). Gagarin became the first human in space during this mission, flown on 12 April 1961. He circled the Earth once in a flight that lasted 1 hour and 48 minutes. Re-entry took place over Africa. Separation of the descent module from the rest of the spacecraft initially failed, and this caused tumbling and higher than expected g-forces. Separation did eventually succeed, and Gagarin ejected from the descent module and parachuted safely to the ground in the Saratov region of Russia.