Yuri Gagarin First Cosmonaut USSROriginal vintage Soviet space poster in celebration of Cosmonautics Day Glory to Yuri Gagarin the first cosmonaut in the world! ! featuring a smiling Yuri Gagarin (Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; 1934 1968), the Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who was the first man in space on 12 April 1961, in shades of blue and white on a TV screen image over the earth in blue with the bold red text curved above and below against the dark space background. 12 1961