Vostok programme - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Vostok programme was a Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

human spaceflight

Human spaceflight

Human spaceflight is spaceflight with humans on the spacecraft. When a spacecraft is manned, it can be piloted directly, as opposed to machine or robotic space probes and remotely-controlled satellites....

project that succeeded in putting a person into Earth

Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...

's orbit for the first time. The programme developed the Vostok spacecraft

Vostok spacecraft

The Vostok was a type of spacecraft built by the Soviet Union. The first human spaceflight in history was accomplished on this spacecraft on April 12, 1961, by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin....

from the Zenit spy satellite

Zenit spy satellite

Zenit is the name of a series of military spy satellites launched by the Soviet Union between 1961 and 1994. To conceal their nature, all flights were given the public Kosmos designation...

project and adapted the Vostok rocket

Vostok rocket

Vostok was a family of rockets derived from the Soviet R-7 Semyorka ICBM designed for the human spaceflight programme. This family of rockets launched the first artificial satellite and the first manned spacecraft in human history...

from an existing ICBM design. Just before the first release of the name Vostok to the press, it was a classified word.

There were six manned spaceflights in the Vostok programme, all of which took place between 1961 and 1963. The programme preceeded the Voskhod programme

Voskhod programme

The Voskhod programme was the second Soviet human spaceflight project. Two manned missions were flown using the Voskhod spacecraft and rocket, one in 1964 and one in 1965....

, which used modified Vostok capsules. By the late 1960's, those programmes were superseded by the Soyuz programme

Soyuz programme

The Soyuz programme is a human spaceflight programme that was initiated by the Soviet Union in the early 1960s, originally part of a Moon landing project intended to put a Soviet cosmonaut on the Moon...

, which continues as of 2011.

Background

The world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1

Sputnik 1

Sputnik 1 ) was the first artificial satellite to be put into Earth's orbit. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957. The unanticipated announcement of Sputnik 1s success precipitated the Sputnik crisis in the United States and ignited the Space...

, had been put into orbit by the Soviets in 1957. The next milestone in the history of space exploration would be to put a human in space, and both the Soviets and the Americans wanted to be the first.

Cosmonaut selection and training

Air Force rank Air Force ranks and insignia of the Russian Federation The following table presents images of the rank insignia used by the Russian Federation Air Force . The independent Russia inherited the ranks of the Soviet Union, although the insignia and uniform was altered a little, especially the re-introduction of the old Czarist crown and double eagle. The... *	Cosmonaut	Age*
Senior Lieutenant	Ivan Anikeyev Ivan Anikeyev Ivan Nikolayevich Anikeyev was a Soviet cosmonaut who was dismissed from the Soviet space program for disciplinary reasons....	27
Major	Pavel Belyayev Pavel Belyayev Pavel Ivanovich Belyayev , , was a Soviet fighter pilot with extensive experience in piloting different types of aircraft...	34
Senior Lieutenant	Valentin Bondarenko Valentin Bondarenko Valentin Vasiliyevich Bondarenko was a Soviet fighter pilot and cosmonaut. He died during a training accident in Moscow, USSR, in 1961. A crater on the Moon's far side is named for him.-Education and military training:...	23
Senior Lieutenant	Valery Bykovsky	25
Senior Lieutenant	Valentin Filatyev Valentin Filatyev Valentin Ignatyevich Filatyev was a Soviet cosmonaut who was dismissed from the Soviet space program for disciplinary reasons....	30
Senior Lieutenant	Yuri Gagarin Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961....	25
Senior Lieutenant	Viktor Gorbatko Viktor Gorbatko Viktor Vasilyevich Gorbatko was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 7, Soyuz 24, and Soyuz 37 missions.After leaving the space program in 1982 he taught at the Air Force Engineering Academy in Moscow.-References:...	25
Captain	Anatoli Kartashov	27
Senior Lieutenant	Yevgeny Khrunov Yevgeny Khrunov Yevgeni Vassilyevich Khrunov was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 5/Soyuz 4 mission.He was born in Prudy.Yevgeni Khrunov was a colonel, Hero of the Soviet Union and Kandidat of Technical Sciences ....	26
Captain Engineer	Vladimir Komarov Vladimir Komarov Vladimir Mikhaylovich Komarov was a Soviet test pilot, aerospace engineer and cosmonaut in the first group of cosmonauts selected in 1960. He was one of the most highly experienced and well-qualified candidates accepted into "Air Force Group One"....	32
Lieutenant	Aleksei Leonov Aleksei Leonov Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov is a retired Soviet/Russian cosmonaut and Air Force Major General who, on 18 March 1965, became the first human to conduct a space walk.-Biography:...	25
Senior Lieutenant	Grigori Nelyubov Grigori Nelyubov Grigori Grigoyevich Nelyubov was a Soviet cosmonaut who was likely to have been the third or fourth person in space before his dismissal from the Soviet space program....	25
Senior Lieutenant	Andrian Nikolayev Andrian Nikolayev Andriyan Grigoryevich Nikolayev , was a Soviet cosmonaut. He was an ethnic Chuvash.- History :...	30
Captain	Pavel Popovich Pavel Popovich - Biography :He was born in Uzyn, Kiev Oblast of Soviet Union . to Roman Porfirievich Popovich and Theodosia Kasyanovna Semyonov. He had two sisters and two brothers ....	29
Senior Lieutenant	Mars Rafikov Mars Rafikov Mars Zakirovich Rafikov was a Soviet cosmonaut who was dismissed from the Soviet space program for disciplinary reasons.Senior Lieutenant Rafikov, age 26, was selected as one of the original 20 cosmonauts on March 7, 1960 along with Yuri Gagarin....	26
Senior Lieutenant	Georgi Shonin Georgi Shonin Georgy Stepanovich Shonin was a Soviet cosmonaut, who flew on the Soyuz 6 space mission....	24
Senior Lieutenant	Gherman Titov Gherman Titov Gherman Stepanovich Titov was a Soviet cosmonaut who, on August 6, 1961, became the second human to orbit the Earth aboard Vostok 2, preceded by Yuri Gagarin on Vostok 1...	24
Senior Lieutenant	Valentin Varlamov Valentin Varlamov Valentin Varlamov was a Russian jet pilot who was selected for Tsentr Podgotovka Kosmonavtov or TsPK-1, the first intake of 20 cosmonaut candidates in 1960...	25
Senior Lieutenant	Boris Volynov Boris Volynov Boris Valentinovich Volynov is a Soviet cosmonaut who flew two space missions of the Soyuz programme: Soyuz 5, and Soyuz 21. He was the first Jewish cosmonaut.-Biography:...	25
Senior Lieutenant	Dmitri Zaikin Dmitri Zaikin Dmitri Alekseyevich Zayikin was a trainer of cosmonauts.He graduated from Military Fighter Pilot School, Armavir and Frunse , in 1955, and was selected for the cosmonaut training in 1960, as one of a group of the twenty Air Force pilots who would train as the first cosmonauts.Zayikin was assigned as...	27
* At time of selection;

By January 1959, the Soviets had begun preparations for human spaceflight. Physicians from the Soviet Air Force insisted that the potential cosmonaut candidates be qualified Air Force pilots, arguing that they would have relevant skills such as exposure to higher g-force

G-force

The g-force associated with an object is its acceleration relative to free-fall. This acceleration experienced by an object is due to the vector sum of non-gravitational forces acting on an object free to move. The accelerations that are not produced by gravity are termed proper accelerations, and...

s, as well as ejection seat experience; also the Americans had chosen the Mercury Seven

Mercury Seven

Mercury Seven was the group of seven Mercury astronauts selected by NASA on April 9, 1959. They are also referred to as the Original Seven and Astronaut Group 1...

in April 1959, all of whom had aviation backgrounds. The candidates had to be intelligent, comfortable in high-stress situations, and physically fit.

Chief designer of the Soviet space program, Sergei Korolev, decided that the cosmonauts must be male, between 25 and 30 years old, no taller than 1.75 meters, and weigh no more than 72 kilograms. The final specifications for cosmonauts were approved in June 1959. By September interviews with potential cosmonauts had begun. Although the pilots were not told they might be flying into space, one of the physicians in charge of the selection process believed that some pilots had figured this out. Just over 200 candidates made it through the interview process, and by October a series of demanding physical tests were conducted on those remaining, such as exposure to low pressures, and a centrifuge test

High-G training

High-G training is done by aviators and astronauts who are subject to high levels of acceleration . It is designed to prevent a g-induced Loss Of Consciousness , a situation when g-forces move the blood away from the brain to the extent that consciousness is lost.Incidents of acceleration-induced...

. By the end of 1959, 20 men had been selected. Korolev insisted on having a larger group than NASA's seven astronaut team. Of these 20, five were outside the desired age range; so the age requirement was relaxed. Unlike NASA's astronaut group, this group were not particularly experienced pilots; Belyayev was the most experience with 900 flying hours. The Soviet spacecraft were more automated than the American counterparts, so significant piloting experience was not necessary.

On January 11, 1960, Soviet Chief Marshal of Aviation

Chief Marshal

The ranks of Marshal of a branch and Chief Marshal of a branch were senior military ranks of the Soviet Armed Forces. Immediately above the rank "Marshal of a branch" is the rank "Chief Marshal of a branch". Both ranks are immediately above the rank "Colonel General" and equal to Soviet General...

Konstantin Vershinin

Konstantin Andreevich Vershinin was the Soviet Chief Marshal of Aviation from 1959 to 1972. He was a commander in World War II, and for his actions, in 1944 he was awarded the distinction of Hero of the Soviet Union...

approved plans to establish the Cosmonaut Training Center

Yuri Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Center

The Yu. A. Gagarin State Scientific Research-and-Testing Cosmonaut Training Center is a Russian training facility responsible for training cosmonauts for their space missions...

, whose exclusive purpose would be to prepare the cosmonauts for their upcoming flights; initially the facility would have about 250 staff. Vershinin assigned the already famous aviator Nikolai Kamanin

Nikolai Kamanin

Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin was a Soviet aviator, awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1934 for the rescue of SS Chelyuskin crew from an improvised airfield on the frozen surface of the Chukchi Sea near Kolyuchin Island.In World War II he successfully commanded air brigade, air division...

to supervise operations at the facility. By March, most of the cosmonauts had arrived at the training facility; on March 7 Vershinin gave a welcome speech, and those who were present were formally inducted into the cosmonaut group. By mid-June all twenty were permanently stationed at the center. In March the cosmonauts were started on a daily fitness regime, and were taught classes on topics such as rocket space systems, navigation, geophysics, and astronomy.

Due to the initial facility's space limitations, the cosmonauts and staff were relocated to a new facility in Star City

Star City, Russia

Star City is a common name of an area in Moscow Oblast, Russia, which has since the 1960s been home to the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center...

(then known as Zelenyy), which has been the home of Russia's cosmonaut training program for over fifty years. The move officially took place on June 29, 1960.

The Vanguard Six

At the Gromov Flight Research Institute

Gromov Flight Research Institute

M. M. Gromov Flight Research Institute or LII for short is an important Russian aircraft test base, scientific research center located in Zhukovsky, 40 km south-east of Moscow.It has one of the longest runways in Europe at 5,403 m...

, a spacecraft simulator had been built, and it was called the TDK-1. Due to the inefficiency of training all 20 cosmonauts in the simulator, it was decided they would select six men who would go through accelerated training. This group, which would be known as The Vanguard Six, was decided on May 30, 1960, and initially consisted of Gagarin, Kartashov, Nikolayev, Popovich, Titov, and Varlamov. Alexei Leonov recalls that these six were the shortest six out of the group of 20.

In July, shortly after relocation to Star City, two of the six would be replaced, on medical grounds. First, during a centrifuge test of 8 g's

G-force

, Kartashov experienced some internal damage, causing minor hemorrhaging

Bleeding

Bleeding, technically known as hemorrhaging or haemorrhaging is the loss of blood or blood escape from the circulatory system...

on his back. Despite Gagarin's requests for him to stay, the doctors decided to remove Kartashov from the group of six. Later in July, Varlamov was involved in a swimming accident. During a dive into a lake near the training center, he hit his head on the bottom, displacing a cervical vertebra

Cervical vertebrae

In vertebrates, cervical vertebrae are those vertebrae immediately inferior to the skull.Thoracic vertebrae in all mammalian species are defined as those vertebrae that also carry a pair of ribs, and lie caudal to the cervical vertebrae. Further caudally follow the lumbar vertebrae, which also...

. So by the end of July, the Vanguard Six were: Gagarin, Bykovskiy, Nelyubov, Nikolayev, Popovich, and Titov.

By January, 1961, these six had all finished parachute and recovery training, as well as three-day regimes in simulators. On January 17, the six participated in their final exams, including time spent in a simulator, and a written test. Based on these results, a commission, supervised by Kamanin, recommended the use of the cosmonauts in the following order: Gagarin, Titov, Nelyubov, Nikolayev, Bykovskiy, Popovich. At this stage Gagarin was the clear favorite to be the first man in space, not only based on the exams, but also among an informal peer evaluation.

Missions

The first manned spaceflight, Vostok 1

Vostok 1

Vostok 1 was the first spaceflight in the Vostok program and the first human spaceflight in history. The Vostok 3KA spacecraft was launched on April 12, 1961. The flight took Yuri Gagarin, a cosmonaut from the Soviet Union, into space. The flight marked the first time that a human entered outer...

in April 1961, was preceded by several preparatory flights. In the summer of 1960, the Soviets learned that the Americans could launch a sub-orbital

Sub-orbital spaceflight

A sub-orbital space flight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches space, but its trajectory intersects the atmosphere or surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched, so that it does not complete one orbital revolution....

manned spaceflight as early as January 1961. Korolev saw this as an important deadline, and was determined to launch a manned orbital mission before the Americans launched their manned suborbital mission. By April 1960, designers at Sergei Korolev's design bureau, then known as OKB-1

S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia

OAO S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia , also known as RKK Energiya, is a Russian manufacturer of spacecraft and space station components...

, had completed a draft plan for the first Vostok spacecraft, called Vostok 1K. This design would be used for testing purposes; also in their plan was Vostok 2K, a spy satellite that would later become known as Zenit 2, and Vostok 3K, which would be used for all six manned Vostok missions.

Despite the very large geographical size of the Soviet Union, there were obvious limitations to monitoring orbital spaceflights from ground stations within the country. To remedy this, the Soviets stationed about 7 naval vessels, or tracking ships, around the world. For each ground station or tracking ship, the duration of communications with an orbiting spacecraft was limited to five to ten minutes.

Korabl-Sputnik 1

The first Vostok spacecraft was a variant not designed to be recovered from orbit; the variant was also called Vostok 1KP or (1P). At Korolev's suggestion, the media would call the spacecraft Korabl-Sputnik, ("Satellite-ship"); the name Vostok was still a secret codename at this point. This first Vostok spacecraft was successfully sent into orbit on May 15, 1960. Due to a system malfunction, on the spacecraft's 64th orbit, the thrusters fired and sent it into an even higher orbit. The orbit eventually decayed, and it reentered the atmosphere several years later.

Vostok 1K

Mission	Spacecraft	Launch	Result
Korabl-Sputnik 1	1P	May 15, 1960	Partial failure
Unnamed	1K-1	July 28, 1960	Failure
Korabl-Sputnik 2	1K-2	August 19, 1960	Success
Korabl-Sputnik 3	1K-3	December 1, 1960	Partial failure
Unnamed	1K-4	December 22, 1960	Failure
Korabl-Sputnik 4	3KA-1	March 9, 1961	Success
Korabl-Sputnik 5	3KA-2	March 25, 1961	Success

The next six launches were all of the Vostok 1K design, equipped with life-support facilities, and planned to be recovered after orbit. The spacecraft launched on July 28, 1960 carried two space dogs, named Chayka and Lisichka. Unfortunately an explosion destroyed the spacecraft shortly after launch, killing both dogs; this mission wasn't given a name. The next mission, designated Korabl-Sputnik 2, was launched on August 19, 1960, carrying two more dogs, Belka and Strelka, as well as a variety of other biological specimens such as mice, insects, and strips of human skin. This mission was successful, and Belka and Strelka became the first living beings recovered from orbit. The spacecraft was only the second object ever to have been recovered from orbit, the first being the return capsule of the American Discoverer 13

Corona (satellite)

The Corona program was a series of American strategic reconnaissance satellites produced and operated by the Central Intelligence Agency Directorate of Science & Technology with substantial assistance from the U.S. Air Force...

the previous week. During the mission there was some concern for Belka and Strelka's health, after images of Belka vomiting had been obtained from the onboard cameras. The spacecraft and dogs were recovered following the 26 hour spaceflight, and extensive physiological tests revealed that the dogs were in good health. This represented a significant success for the Vostok programme.

The success of Korabl-Sputnik 2 gave the designers confidence to put forward a plan leading to a manned spaceflight. A document regarding a plan for the Vostok programme, dated September 10, 1960, and declassified in 1991, was sent to the Central Committee of the Communist Party

Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , abbreviated in Russian as ЦК, "Tse-ka", earlier was also called as the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party ...

, and approved by Premier Nikita Khrushchev

Nikita Khrushchev

Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...

. This document had been signed by the top leaders in the Soviet defence industry at the time, the most senior being Deputy Chairman Dmitriy Ustinov

Dmitriy Ustinov

Dmitriy Feodorovich Ustinov was Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union from 1976 until his death.-Early life:Dimitry Feodorovich Ustinov was born in a working-class family in Samara. During the civil war, when hunger became intolerable, his sick father went to Samarkand, leaving Dimitry as head...

; this indicated the elevated importance of the document. The plan called for one or two more Vostok 1K flights, followed by two unmanned Vostok 3K flights, followed by a manned flight in December 1960.

A major setback occurred on October 24, when a rocket explosion killed over 100 people, including Chief Marshal

Chief Marshal

of Artillery Mitrofan Nedelin

Mitrofan Ivanovich Nedelin

Mitrofan Ivanovich Nedelin was a Soviet military commander who served as Chief Marshal of Artillery, a position he held from May 8, 1959 until his untimely death...

, in what is now called the Nedelin catastrophe

Nedelin catastrophe

The Nedelin catastrophe or Nedelin disaster was a launch pad accident that occurred on 24 October 1960, at Baikonur Cosmodrome during the development of the Soviet R-16 ICBM...

. This was one of the worst disasters in the history of spaceflight. It involved a rocket that was not designed by Korolev, and was not necessary for the Vostok programme; the rocket was by rival designer Mikhail Yangel

Mikhail Yangel

Mikhail Kuzmich Yangel , was a leading missile designer in the Soviet Union....

, intended to be a new generation of Intercontinental ballistic missile

Intercontinental ballistic missile

An intercontinental ballistic missile is a ballistic missile with a long range typically designed for nuclear weapons delivery...

s. It would be two weeks before work on the Vostok programme continued, and it was realised that the original target of a December manned launch was unrealistic.

On December 1, 1960, the next Vostok 1K spacecraft was launched, called Korabl-Sputnik 3 by the press, it carried the two dogs Pchyolka and Mushka. After about 24 hours, the engines were intended to fire to begin reentry, but they fired for less time than had been expected. This meant that the spacecraft would enter the atmosphere, but not over Soviet territory. For this reason the self-destruct system was activated, so the spacecraft and the two dogs, were destroyed. At the time the press reported that an incorrect attitude caused the cabin to be destroyed upon reentry.

The next Vostok 1K spacecraft was launched December 22, 1960, but it was unnamed because it failed to reach orbit. It carried two dogs, named Kometa and Shutka. The third stage of the launch system malfunctioned, and the emergency escape system was activated. The spacecraft landed 3,500 kilometres downrange of the launch site. The resulting rescue operation took several days, in -40 °C

Celsius

Celsius is a scale and unit of measurement for temperature. It is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius , who developed a similar temperature scale two years before his death...

conditions. After a few days, the dogs were both recovered alive, and the spacecraft was returned to Moscow a few weeks later. Despite Korolev's desire to announce this failure to the press, the State Commission vetoed the idea.

Vostok 3KA

The two unmanned missions immediately preceding the first manned flight used the same spacecraft design as in the manned missions, a design called Vostok 3KA (or 3A). The only differences were they would carry a single dog into orbit, a life-size mannequin

Mannequin

A mannequin is an often articulated doll used by artists, tailors, dressmakers, and others especially to display or fit clothing...

would be strapped into the main ejection seat, and unlike the manned missions it had a self-destruct system. The recent failures of Vostok 1K were not encouraging, but it was decided to proceed with launches of an automated variant of Vostok 3KA, the spacecraft design that would conduct a manned spaceflight. The approval of a manned mission was contingent upon the success of the two automated Vostok 3KA missions. Unlike the previous Vostok 1K flights, the two unmanned Vostok 3KA flights were planned to last only a single orbit, to imitate the plan for the first manned flight.

The first of these unmanned flights, Korabl-Sputnik 4, was launched on March 9, 1961. It carried the dog Chernushka into orbit, as well as a mannequin called Ivan Ivanovich

Ivan Ivanovich

Ivan Ivanovich, the Russian equivalent for 'John Doe' was the name given to a mannequin used in testing the Russian Vostok spacecraft in preparation for its manned missions....

, who wore a functioning SK-1 spacesuit

SK-1 spacesuit

SK-1 is an initialism of "Skafandr Kosmicheskiy" # 1 is a spacesuit that was developed specially for Yuri Gagarin. As such, it is the first spacesuit ever used...

. The dog was contained in a small pressurized sphere, which also contained 80 mice, several guinea pig

Guinea pig

The guinea pig , also called the cavy, is a species of rodent belonging to the family Caviidae and the genus Cavia. Despite their common name, these animals are not in the pig family, nor are they from Guinea...

s, and other biological specimens. Additional mice, guinea pigs, and other specimens were placed within the mannequin. After one orbit, the descent module successfully re-entered the atmosphere, the mannequin was safely ejected, and the dog and other specimens landed separated in the descent module by parachute. The spaceflight lasted 106 minutes, and the dog was recovered alive after landing. The mission was a complete success.

On March 23, before the next mission, an accident occurred during training which led to the death of cosmonaut candidate Valentin Bondarenko

Valentin Bondarenko

Valentin Vasiliyevich Bondarenko was a Soviet fighter pilot and cosmonaut. He died during a training accident in Moscow, USSR, in 1961. A crater on the Moon's far side is named for him.-Education and military training:...

. He was burned in a fire in oxygen-rich isolation chamber, and died in a hospital eight hours after the incident. Bondarenko was the first cosmonaut (or astronaut) fatality. It is not clear whether other cosmonauts were told of his death immediately. the media didn't learn of Bondarenko's death – or even of his existence – until many years later, in 1986.
The next unmanned flight, Korabl-Sputnik 5, was launched on March 25, two days after Bondarenko's death. Like the previous Vostok 3KA flight, it lasted for only a single orbit, carried a mannequin and a dog, Zvezdochka ("Starlet", or "Little star"). This mission was also a complete success, which was the final step required to get approval for a manned mission. The re-entry module of the Korabl-Sputnik 5 spacecraft, also called Vostok 3KA-2, is scheduled to be auction

Auction

An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...

ed at Sotheby's

Sotheby's

Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...

on April 12, 2011, the 50th anniversary of the first manned spaceflight, Vostok 1

Vostok 1

Vostok manned flights

Order	Mission	Launch	Duration	Landing	Crew	Notes
1	Vostok 1 Vostok 1 Vostok 1 was the first spaceflight in the Vostok program and the first human spaceflight in history. The Vostok 3KA spacecraft was launched on April 12, 1961. The flight took Yuri Gagarin, a cosmonaut from the Soviet Union, into space. The flight marked the first time that a human entered outer...	12 April 1961	1 h 48 m	12 April 1961	Yu. Gagarin Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961....	First man in space.
2	Vostok 2 Vostok 2 Vostok 2 was a Soviet space mission which carried cosmonaut Gherman Titov into orbit for a full day in order to study the effects of a more prolonged period of weightlessness on the human body...	6 August 1961	1 d 1 h 18 m	7 August 1961	G. Titov Gherman Titov Gherman Stepanovich Titov was a Soviet cosmonaut who, on August 6, 1961, became the second human to orbit the Earth aboard Vostok 2, preceded by Yuri Gagarin on Vostok 1...	First manned mission lasting a full day.
3	Vostok 3 Vostok 3 Vostok 3 was a spaceflight of the Soviet space program intended to determine the ability of the human body to function in conditions of weightlessness and test the endurance of the Vostok 3KA spacecraft over longer flights...	11 August 1962	3 d 22 h 22 m	15 August 1962	A. Nikolayev	First simultaneous flight of two manned spacecraft.
4	Vostok 4 Vostok 4 Vostok 4 was a mission in the Soviet space program. It was launched a day after Vostok 3 with cosmonaut Pavel Popovich on board—the first time that more than one manned spacecraft were in orbit at the same time. The two Vostok capsules came within of one another and ship-to-ship radio contact was...	12 August 1962	2 d 22 h 56 m	15 August 1962	P. Popovich Pavel Popovich - Biography :He was born in Uzyn, Kiev Oblast of Soviet Union . to Roman Porfirievich Popovich and Theodosia Kasyanovna Semyonov. He had two sisters and two brothers ....	First simultaneous flight of two manned spacecraft..
5	Vostok 5 Vostok 5 -Backup crew:-Reserve crew:-Mission parameters:Mass Apogee: Perigee: Inclination: 64.9°*Period: 88.4 minutes...	14 June 1963	4 d 23 h 7 m	19 June 1963	V. Bykovsky	Longest solo orbital flight.
6	Vostok 6 Vostok 6 -Backup crew:-Reserve crew:Vostok VI-Mission parameters:Mass: Apogee: Perigee: Inclination: 64.9°*Period: 87.8 minutes9090...	16 June 1963	2 d 22 h 50 m	19 June 1963	V. Tereshkova Valentina Tereshkova Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova is a retired Soviet cosmonaut, and was the first woman in space. She was selected out of more than four hundred applicants, and then out of five finalists, to pilot Vostok 6 on the 16 June, 1963, becoming both the first woman and the first civilian to fly in...	First woman in space.

Cancelled missions

One different (1963) and seven another original (going through to April 1966) Vostok flights were originally planned:

Vostok 6A - pair to Vostok 5
Vostok 5
-Backup crew:-Reserve crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass *Apogee: *Perigee: *Inclination: 64.9°*Period: 88.4 minutes...

group flight with female cosmonaut instead fulfilled Vostok 6
Vostok 6
-Backup crew:-Reserve crew:Vostok VI-Mission parameters:*Mass: *Apogee: *Perigee: *Inclination: 64.9°*Period: 87.8 minutes9090...

flight http://www.astronautix.com/flights/vostok6A.htm
Vostok 7 - 8-days high altitude flight for radiological-biological studies with natural re-entry from orbit http://www.astronautix.com/flights/vostok7.htm
Vostok 8 - pair to Vostok 9 10-days group high altitude flight for extended scientific studies with natural re-entry from orbit http://www.astronautix.com/flights/vostok8.htm
Vostok 9 - pair to Vostok 8 10-days group high altitude flight for extended scientific studies with natural re-entry from orbit http://www.astronautix.com/flights/vostok9.htm
Vostok 10 - 10-days high altitude flight for extended scientific studies with natural re-entry from orbit http://www.astronautix.com/flights/vostok10.htm
Vostok 11 - supplemental flight for extra-vehicular activity tests http://www.astronautix.com/flights/vostok11.htm
Vostok 12 - supplemental flight for extra-vehicular activity tests http://www.astronautix.com/flights/vostok12.htm
Vostok 13 - 10-days high altitude flight for extended scientific studies with natural re-entry from orbit http://www.astronautix.com/flights/vostok13.htm

All these original missions were cancelled in spring 1964 and the components recycled into the Voskhod programme