Related events:

1. Sunday 3rd of November 1957 (-) — Soviet space dog Laika dies of overheating in a Sputnik 2 capsule.
   Laika died within hours from overheating possibly caused by a failure of the central R-7 sustainer to separate from the payload. The true cause and time of her death were not made public until 2002; instead, it was widely reported that she died when her oxygen ran out on day six, or as the Soviet government initially claimed, she was euthanised prior to oxygen depletion.

2. Wednesday 12th of April 1961 (x) — Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man to fly around the world in a Vostok 1 3KA-3.
   

3. Tuesday 20th of February 1962 (x) — United States Marine Corps aviator, engineer and astronaut John Glenn becomes the first US-astronaut to fly around the earth in a Mercury-Atlas 6 spacecraft.
   Total mission flight time was four hours 55 minutes and 23 seconds.