Today marks the 60th anniversary of the first human spaceflight. Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gargarin spent nearly two hours in space and orbited the earth just once.

Today also marks the 40th anniversary of the first orbital flight (mission designation 'STS-1') of the Space Transportation System, crewed by US astronauts John Young and Bob Crippen. Young and Crippen spent two days in space testing the Space Shuttle Columbia.