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History Channel is going nuts on early space programs.  Here's an interesting tidbit.

Although Yuri Gagarin was officially the first person in space he did not complete the first space flight.

As part of the flight plan, Gagarin exited the spacecraft at an altitude of about 20,000 feet and then parachuted to the ground. He landed near Saratov in the Volgograd region.

The Soviet government apparently kept this parachute detail secret for many years. The Soviets sought to give an impression that the Vostok spacecraft made a soft landing with Gagarin still inside. The Federation Aeronautique International required that a pilot land with his vehicle in order to claim a complete flight for the record books.

Interestingly enough, the first person to offically complete space flight according to the rules at the time was John Glenn on MA-6, this was actually the 5th flight.  The reason being was that Gagarin parachuted from his capsule during Vostok 1 in April of 1961.  Alan Shepard's parabolic MR-3 ("Freedom 7") flight in May of 1961 didn't achieve the altitude required to be a "space flight" by international rules.  Gus Grissom's flight (MR-4, aka "Liberty Bell 7") was the same way in July of 1961.  Next, Soviet Cosmonaut Gherman Titov piloted Vostok 2 in August of 1961 but once again he parachuted from his capsule (this was standard on all 6 Vostok flights).  In February of 1962, John Glenn flew on MA-6 (more famously known as "Friendship 7")-he achieved a high enough altitude and landed in his capsule.

Of course, the truth behind Gagarin's flight wasn't know at the time and since the Soviets had beated the American's into space-nobody cared if Shepard's flight wasn't quite high enough.

As part of the flight plan, Gagarin exited the spacecraft at an altitude of about 20,000 feet and then parachuted to the ground. He landed near Saratov in the Volgograd region.

Thanks Webb. I never knew that which is not really surprising. It hardly makes a difference now but it's interesting all the same. They always seemed a tad cagey about letting Gagarin give interviews. I suppose with the benefit of hindsight it was the obvious solution to the problem.

For me,Gagarin will always be the first man in space....no matter if he left his capsule during the landing or not.

Exploder--Gagarin will always be the first man in space all right, he just didn't have enough balls to land that thing

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there like 2 or 3 other soviets that went into space before Gagarin, except their thing became depressurized and got killed and forgotten?

For me,Gagarin will always be the first man in space....no matter if he left his capsule during the landing or not.

Thats pretty much the belief by everyone.  Gagarin was then and has always been considered to be the first man in space-because he was.  The fact that he parachuted was covered up because it was against international rules, but nobody cares about that anymore (and they probably wouldn't have then).

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there like 2 or 3 other soviets that went into space before Gagarin, except their thing became depressurized and got killed and forgotten?

Thats one of those many cover-up stroies of the space program.

Interesting link, thanks.

Here's another link about "lost cosmonauts".  If anyone can translate the Russian I'd love to hear it.

http://web.archive.org/web/200306101643 ... nauts.com/