Who was the first human sent to space?
The United States was considered the de facto winner of the space race when they achieved the near-impossible task of landing a human on the moon, beating their rival the Soviet Union to it. However, earlier in the space race the Soviet Union also had some successes. For example, the USSR surprised the world by sending the first human into space on April 12, 1961, aboard Vostok 1. The vessel spent 108 minutes in obit around the earth. With this act, the USSR would gain a decisive lead in the space race.