Vostok

Soviet R-7-derived crewed orbital rocket

The rocket that changed what "possible" meant. On 12 April 1961, a Vostok carried Yuri Gagarin on one orbit of Earth — the first human in space, 108 minutes start to landing. Six crewed missions; Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, flew the last one in June 1963. The rocket's first version, the Luna, flew the Soviet Moon probes of 1958 to 1960: Luna 2 was the first object to reach the Moon's surface, and Luna 3 took the first photos of its far side.