Yuri Gagarin was a 20th century Soviet cosmonaut who became, as far as the majority of humanity was aware, the first human being to journey into outer space in 1961. (TV: The Seeds of Death, AUDIO: 1963: The Space Race, The Last Day at Work)
In 1903, after receiving a wealth of information from the future, Grigori Rasputin foresaw, among other things, Gagarin's achievement. (AUDIO: The Wanderer)
In 1968, Bernard Whittam had a false memory about watching the news about Gagarin in the "deep space" in 1961. Later, the Second Doctor showed him on the TARDIS scanner Gagarin clambering inside the Vostok 1. (AUDIO: The Last Day at Work)
Before travelling to the Moon aboard a Soviet lunar capsule in November 1963, the Sixth Doctor told Peri Brown that he was far more qualified for space travel than Gagarin. (AUDIO: 1963: The Space Race)
The Seventh Doctor, Ace, Markus Creevy and Lt Raina Kerenskaya saw both Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, on a podium in Red Square, Moscow, in the Soviet Union at a ceremony marking the fiftieth anniversary of the October Revolution on 7 November 1967. (AUDIO: Thin Ice)
Gagarin was one of the many individuals whose history was faked by the Monks' propaganda machine. (TV: The Lie of the Land)
Behind the scenes[]
- Gagarin featured heavily in the Doctor Who annual features, appearing in Doctor Who Annual 1968 feature Men Who Made History, the Doctor Who Annual 1969 feature Pioneers of Flight, and the Doctor Who Annual 1977 feature Reach For The Sky. In these features, it is explained that on 12 April 1961, Gagarin was launched into space in Vostok 1, orbitting the Earth for an hour and 48 minutes.
