It was the first human spaceflight ever. Launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome; landing of Gagarin near Smelovka north of Usmorye (26 km southwest of Engels); the empty spaceecraft landed at 07:48 UTC.

Gagarin had complete radio contact to mission control during his flight. A camera on board sent videos to ground control. The mission was controlled from the mission control, not from Gagarin himself. As planned, he left the capsule before landing with a catapult seat and landed seperate from the capsule using a parachute.