Yuri Gagarin orbits the Earth on the Russian Space Agency’s Vostok 1 (“East” in Russian); it lasts 108 minutes. As the rocket lifts off, Gagarin exclaims, “Поехали!” (Poyekhali!—Let’s go!), launching the human race into space. Upon returning to Earth, he steps onto the ground and sees a woman with a little girl and a calf nearby. He shouts, “They’re yours, comrades, they’re yours!” They are Anna Akimomovna Takhtarova, the wife of a forest ranger, and her six-year-old granddaughter Rita. “You haven’t come from space, have you?” asks the woman. “That’s right,” Gagarin replies.
