What to see in the sky in April: Venus and Mercury to meet in a conjunction April marks 60 years since the first manned flight in history about 2 hours ago
On April 12th, 1961 – sixty years ago this month – we fulfilled a dream we had for millennia as Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space. Less than 600 people have made the trip into orbit since that time, yet spaceflight nowadays does not garner headlines like the early missions. Trips are expected to become even more routine in the next decade as commercial ventures like Blue Origins and Virgin Galactic offer sub-orbital flights to the public.