Yuri Gagarin, portrait and postage stamp. Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968) was the first human in space, orbiting the Earth in the Vostok 1 spacecraft on 12 April 1961. Following this historic spaceflight, Gagarin became a hero in the Soviet Union and famous worldwide. This commemorative stamp (lower right) includes a portrait of Gagarin, a depiction of a rocket, his award of Hero of the Soviet Union (star-shaped medal), the date of his historic spaceflight, and various texts in Cyrillic. The postmark also includes the famous date. For the stamp alone, see image C006/6418. Gagarin died in an aircraft training flight in 1968, and his ashes were interred with full military honours in the Kremlin Wall.