the kicker

And that’s the way it was: April 12, 1961

Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first person to fly in space
April 12, 2013 By The Editors

On April 12, 1961, Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, a Soviet cosmonaut, became the first human being to travel into outer space. Aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1, Gagarin orbited the Earth once before safely returning to the planet.

Here were some of the newspaper reactions in Amerika:

New York Times

Hunstville Times

Christian Science Monitor

Evening Gazette

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Milwaukee Journal

Daily Worker

New York Post

Denver Post

New York World-Telegram

The Editors are the staffers of the Columbia Journalism Review.