YURI GAGARIN

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet astronaut from the 1960s. He was the first human to travel into space, and a hero of the former U.S.S.R.'s space program. Sadly, he was banned from participating in spaceflights after a colleague died in the Soyuz 1 rocket. Gagarin was not responsible, and in fact repeatedly protested that more safety precautions were needed, but he was not heeded; the USSR was afraid he'd also die and they'd lose their national hero, but eventually allowed him to fly regular aircraft. Ironically, Gagarin passed away in 1968 at the age of 34 in a jet crash.