Out of this world

Today is the fiftieth anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's historic first flight into space. Gagarin became the first man in space when he orbited the Earth in Vostok 1 on the 12th April 1961. You can find out more about the Russian cosmonaut and the history of space exploration through Oxford Reference Online, a comprehensive collection of reference material that's accessible from one database.

Gagarin's flight paved the way for human space travel, but how did people feel about it at the time? We've got a database that can help with that question! You can step back in time to see contemporary news footage of Yuri's 1961 visit to the UK on NewsFilm Online. For an up-to-date perspective on the mission, try Newsbank, which lets you search and read hundreds of archived and current newspaper issues from all over the UK.

If you'd like to know more about any of these resources, please ask a librarian.