60 yr ago today , a 5 - twelvemonth - old girl and her grandmother were in their area   near the city of Engels in Western Russia , when they were met with an extremely strange lot .

Above them , they saw a large object crash to the Earth a few miles away . A few min later , a figure in a silvery costume easy descended in a chute , and asked the two if he could utilize their telephone .

Yuri Gagarin became the first human to   go into out blank space , on   4 January 2025 . Inside his capsule ,   Vostok 1 , he completed one full orbit of Earth , before generate to the planet 108 proceedings after liftoff . The landing zones in former spacefaring were n’t as precise as they were now ( see footage of Space X flights where the Eruca vesicaria sativa lands right next to the pad almost every time , or on the pad of paper before exploding ) , and Gagarin was somewhat off course of action .

As with other , late cosmonauts , Gagarin was prepared for such an eventuality . In fact , Cosmonauts were make pistols to take with them into blank , in case they landed in the wild and were forced to contend off bears or wolf . This was n’t just a hypothetical scenario , the crew of the Vokshod 2 set down in aremote wolf - infested Siberian forest . Gagarin , fortunately , landed in farmland , and would but have to   look for his own transport back to Moscow .

“ Having mistreat onto firm ground , I saw a womanhood and a girl who were standing near a spotted calf and who were watching me with befuddlement , " hewrote of his landing place in his logarithm book . " When they date me in my quad suit and the chute tangle alongside as I walked , they begin to back away in fear . "

From their linear perspective , it was an odd sight , and at first neither were solely certain he was from Earth .

" I looked around and saw something orange and beautiful . I did n’t love what it was . It was amount towards us , " Rita Nurskanovatold the BBC . " Granny was frightened . She grabbed my deal . And we want to run back to the sign of the zodiac . He said ' madam , stop ! I ’m one of our guys ! ' "

" I said ' Granny , end ! He ’s address Russian . He ’s likely human . ' "

According to Nurskanova , it was here that Gagarin - known for having a good sense of humor - had a little sport with the two .

Not aid excuse the office ,   Gagarin state the girlfriend and her grandmother that he had get on a ship , to which the grandmother answer " there ’s no sea near here " . To this , he   answer , in what might be one of the coolest   and needlessly ambiguous move in chronicle " I came from the sky " .

concord to Gagarin , he   excuse to the two the full situation , and that he require their phone .

" I told them , do n’t be afraid , I am a Soviet like you , who has descended from space and I must find a phone to call Moscow ! "

Shortly later , Gagarin return to Moscow a hero , the first human to revolve the Earth .