Auction Name: 2025 December 11 - 12 Space Exploration Signature® Auction

Lot Number: 50018

Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/6326*50018

Vostok 1: Records File on the First Space Flight by the USSR Citizen Yuri Alexeyevitch Gagarin, Made on April 12, 1961, on Spaceship-Sputnik "Vostok," Signed by Yuri Gagarin. (Moscow: USSR Central Aero Club V. P. Tchkalov [named for the famous Soviet aviator], 1961). A 9" x 12" book bound in dark blue leatherette, gilt-lettered in both Russian and English, with the embossed logo of the Central Aero Club, inside covers in silk moiré. Printed on heavy cream stock, each page within a decorative border. Text in Russian. Twelve numbered pages plus title page, with five additional pages featuring B&W photos mounted, recto only. Signed by numerous Soviet officials. A stapled multi-page document summarizes the contents with a full transcription of Gagarin's report (see our website). Excellent.

This imposing official dossier was issued by the Central Aero Club of the USSR, the certifying authority responsible for Soviet aviation and spaceflight records. It serves as the official documentary record of the flight of Vostok 1, the world's first human spaceflight, by Major Yuri A. Gagarin, launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on April 12, 1961. The file opens with a title page in both Russian and English, followed by multiple formal acts, test records, and flight documentation. Included are:
(1) A general data card identifying the type, configuration, and propulsion system of the Vostok spacecraft, signed by Central Aero Club commissioners.
(2) A weighing certificate for the spacecraft and its payload, dated April 10, 1961, signed by the commission members.
(3) An official act confirming the rocket launch, dated April 12, 1961, providing precise geographic coordinates of Baikonur (47° N, 65° E).
(4) Mathematical and physical derivations defining the orbital parameters of the spacecraft, printed in full technical detail.
(5) And, most significantly, a personal flight report signed authentically by Yuri Gagarin, dated April 15, 1961, in which he describes his observations from orbit, Earth's curvature, weather patterns, atmospheric colors, cloud shadows, and sunrise through the horizon haze. Gagarin concludes by noting his excellent condition and adaptation to spaceflight. This signed Gagarin statement adds exceptional historic and emotional impact, bridging bureaucratic record and human experience at the dawn of manned space exploration.

This document represents the earliest and most authoritative Soviet publication verifying the world's first human spaceflight, prepared immediately after Vostok 1's successful completion. It was produced in very limited numbers for internal recordkeeping, international certification (such as for the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale), and presentation to senior officials. Virtually all known examples reside in institutional or Russian state archives. Copies in private hands are exceedingly rare, particularly those retaining the original binding and complete suite of technical pages.

An artifact of world-changing significance, the first official Soviet record file produced in the immediate aftermath of Yuri Gagarin's pioneering orbit. A museum-worthy relic from the genesis of human spaceflight, representing both the triumph of Soviet engineering and the birth of the Space Age. From an important collection of Soviet-era Space history

Include Thumbnail(s)