the tale of the first person to return from space, and his brief encounter with Aussie culture
- Written by Alice Gorman, Associate Professor in Archaeology and Space Studies, Flinders University
Sixty years ago, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel in space when he completed his historic orbit of Earth on April 12, 1961.
It was an extraordinary achievement, but created a dilemma for a world embroiled in the Cold War. Gagarin’s spaceflight heralded a vision of a unified planet.
However, in the battle between...





