A celebration of manned space flight - past, present and future. 1

On 12 April 1961, the Vostok 1 mission launched Yuri Gagarin on the first ever human spaceflight. Gagarin's flight lasted only 108 minutes, but its impact was immense, leading ultimately to such achievements as the Apollo missions to the Moon, the Space Shuttle, and the Mir and International space stations. As a result of these, in the 21st Century new endeavours in human spaceflight are under development, for example private space travel, commercial space transportation and, in the longer term, maybe human exploration of the solar system. This lecture, celebrating 50 years of manned space flight, looks at the past, present and future plans and possibilities.