Orbit viewer · Episode 2 · 1959–1961

Vostok 1 and Luna 3, two scales of the space race

The first person in orbit, and the probe that looped behind the Moon, drawn from the orbit figures in NASA history records. Switch the scale to fly from low Earth orbit out toward the Moon. Drag to turn, scroll or pinch to zoom.

Vostok 1
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Vostok 1 orbits 0.00
Craft size exaggerated · orbit shape to scale
USSR · launched 12 April 1961

Vostok 1

Crew
Yuri Gagarin
Orbit
301 × 174 km
Speed
27,400 km/h
Flight
108 min · one orbit
Inclination
not shown
Kepler period

The records give the orbit as 301 by 174 kilometers and the flight as 108 minutes. The inclination is not in the sources used here, so the orbit is drawn in the equatorial plane. Gagarin ejected and landed by parachute, not inside the capsule.

Sources: NASA SP-4406, Orders of Magnitude (orbit) · NASA, April 1961 – First Human Entered Space (speed, duration, landing)

USSR · launched 4 October 1959

Luna 3

Orbit
48,280 × 468,300 km
Lunar pass
7,900 km over the south pole
Far-side photos
29, from 65,200 km
Inclination
not shown
Kepler period

A highly elliptical Earth orbit that carried Luna 3 past the Moon on 6 October 1959. It was also the first spacecraft powered fully by solar panels. The Moon is not drawn: the view shows the orbit's size, not where the Moon was.

Source: NASA SP-2018-4041, Siddiqi, Beyond Earth, entry 12

From Luna 1 to Vostok 2, to scale