Yuri Gagarin's First Orbit

On April 12th 2011 it will be 50 years to the day since Yuri Gagarin climbed into his space ship and was launched into space. It took him just 108 minutes to orbit Earth and he returned as the World's very first space man.

Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in the Vostok 1 command capsule shortly before launch. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

To mark this historic flight, film maker Christopher Riley teamed up with the astronauts onboard the International Space Station to film a new view of what Yuri would have seen as he traveled around the planet. The result is "First Orbit", a captivating movie about the start of the space race.



First Orbit weaves the views which Yuri Gagarin must have seen together with historic voice recordings from Yuri Gagarin's first flight and an original score by composer Philip Sheppard, Christopher Riley has created a spellbinding film to share with people around the World on this historic anniversary.

First Orbit - a new film to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the flight of Yuri Gagarin will premiere on this channel on the 12th April 2011. Join the global premiere at www.firstorbit.org.