Yuri Gagarin was the first man in space on 12th April 1961 - the 50th anniversary of the first human spaceflight was celebrated with a Google doodle to mark this day. This achievement, apart from demonstrating to the world that it was possible for mankind to explore outer space, also showed how the extraordinary could happen to someone from a very ordinary background.

Born in the village of Klushino, Russia in 1934, Yuri Gagarin's parents were farmers. Yuri Gagarin became interested in outer space as a youth and this developed into learning to fly, eventually receiving his pilot's wings in a MIG-15 in 1957. He was then sent to an air-base close to the Norwegian border, becoming a Lieutenant in the Soviet Air Force and soon after a Senior Lieutenant in 1959.

It was in the following year that he was chosen to be one of 20 pilots for the Soviet Space Program. An elite training group was formed, called the Sochi Six, from which the first cosmonauts (the Russian term for astronaut) for the Vostok program were to be chosen. Yuri Gagarin was one of these select six.

He was well liked by his peers and nearly all of them chose Yuri Gagarin to be the one they would most like to see fly first. He had an incredible memory and was very aware of all that was happening in his surroundings; coupled with his dedication to training and mental acuity, he was an ideal cosmonaut.

So it was at just 27 years of age, on 12th April 1961, as the world waited in anticipation, that Yuri Gagarin became the first person to travel into space and orbit the Earth in the spaceship Vostok 1. A quite amazing feat, especially when one considers the technology at the time compared to now.

The flight was anything but straightforward, there was no voice contact with Earth for him, just a telegraph key. The computer technology was very basic and Gagarin had no control over the spacecraft during flight, this was handled from the ground. On re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere a cable, that hadn't released as planned, caused the tiny craft to spin and overheat. Fortunately, Yuri managed to bail out and landed safely near the Volga river.

This marked another much needed triumph for the Soviet Union over the USA, who were in the midst of the Cold War. They had already been the first to successfully launch a satellite, Sputnik, in 1957.

Naturally, he went on to become a celebrity and visited many countries to promote the Soviet Union. In 1963 he was made Colonel of the Soviet Air Force, but officials tried to keep him on the ground, rather than in the air, as they feared for the safety of their prized hero. Regrettably, their concern was ultimately justified, as he died in a routine training flight on 27th March 1968, at the age of only 34. The ashes of Yuri Gagarin and his colleague in the crash, Vladimir Seryogin, were placed in the walls of the Kremlin.

So as we can see, it is possible to rise to global fame (without being a musician, actor or author) from very humble beginnings. Self belief and dedication can lead to Universal Riches, in whatever form we desire, as Yuri Gagarin has shown the world.