Launch Success
Liftoff Time (GMT)
06:00:00
Sunday August 6, 1961
Second crewed spaceflight in history.
There was considerable debate prior to this launch as to whether the mission should exceed 3-6 orbits, and due to recovery logistics if it was more it had to be a full 24 hours. Ultimately they went for a 24-hour mission. Gherman Titov was the pilot on this mission. At first he experienced some nausea and vomited upon eating his first meal, which was the first instance of what is now known as space adaptation syndrome. Titov took pictures and videos from orbit, the first time this had been done manually from orbit. He landed the next day by ejecting from his capsule and parachuting, just like Gagarin.
Low Earth Orbit
1 Payload
4,731 kilograms
18th
Mission
4th
Mission of 1961
26th
Mission
6th
Mission of 1961
27th
Orbital launch attempt