Who was the first person in space?

The first person to travel to space was the Russian, Yuri Gagarin in 1961. Gagarin orbited Earth one time before re-entering the atmosphere and successfully returning to land. The entire trip took 108 minutes.

The first American in space was Alan Sheppard, who made the trip only a few weeks after Gagarin. Sheppard only exited the atmosphere briefly and did not orbit Earth. John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth in 1962. He traveled around Earth three times and remained in space for just over 5 hours. The first man on the moon was American Neil Armstrong in 1969.