Korabl-Sputnik 5 - Legacy

Legacy

The success of Korabl-Sputnik 5 was the final step required to get approval for a manned mission.

Vostok 3KA-2 was the key in the door for Gagarin's flight —James Oberg, spaceflight researcher,

That manned mission, known as Vostok 1, would occur about on April 12, 1961, carrying the world's first space traveller Yuri Gagarin. The spacecraft Gagarin used was a nearly identical model, called Vostok 3KA-3. A major difference between the 3KA-2 and 3KA-3 spacecraft was that 3KA-2 version, like all unmanned Vostok spacecraft, was equipped with a self-destruct system, in the event it reentered the atmosphere over foreign territory.