11. Following on from the success of Vostok 1, Vostok 2 carried a human into outer space for more than a day in August 1961
After the success of Vostok 1, Soviet engineers began planning for a lengthier voyage into space. Despite concerns about the effects of prolonged weightlessness and exposure after the flight of Korabl-Sputnik 2, the decision was taken to attempt to surpass a full day in orbit with a human passenger. Launched on August 6, 1961, carrying cosmonaut Gherman Titov, the twenty-five-year-old Russian remains the youngest individual to ever reach space. Thereafter, Titov would enjoy seventeen and a half orbits of the Earth, becoming the first person to take control of a spacecraft in-person in space, before re-entering the following day.
The mission was not without complications, however. Once in orbit, Titov attempted to eat one of his planned meals but suffered nausea as a result of the disturbance of his vestibular system, becoming the first person to suffer from space sickness. Conversing with Soviet Premier Khrushchev via radio, Titov remarkably subsequently went to sleep for more than eight hours between the seventh orbit and twelfth orbits. The United States would not surpass the flight time of Vostok 2 until May 1963, when Gordon Cooper endured a thirty-four-hour long mission aboard the Mercury-Atlas 9.