The Soviet Union.
Although they did not yet have the capability of returning a man safely to the ground, on 12 April 1961, Yuri Gagarin nevertheless rode his Vostok 3KA-3 into space (barely) and reentered after a single orbit. Since the landing system was not yet considered safe, he ejected at 7km (35,000ft) and landed under his own parachute.
The entire flight was automatic, and the controls were locked by a passcode, though it’s been reported that technicians had broken ranks and secretly given him the code.
The systems were so crude that they didn’t trust the retrorockets to fire. They tried to launch him into an orbit so low that if the rockets failed, atmospheric drag would cause reentry in under 10 days, the limit of his oxygen supply. In fact, the orbit was too high and would have lasted twice that long.
It was, if we are honest, a propaganda stunt. But one thing is certain. Yuri Gagarin was a steely-eyed missile man if ever there was one.
Read other answers by C Stuart Hardwick on Quora:
- Is it possible for any individual to jump into space from earth - from an edge of earth and into the space?
- Why can we see stars from Earth, but not from space?
- Will we colonize Mars before destroying the Earth?
from Quora http://ift.tt/2fHTmuK
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