Editing Vostok programme (section)

==Cosmonaut selection and training==
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="float:right; text-align:center; margin-left:10px; margin-top:0px; margin-right:0px; margin-bottom:10px"
! [[Air Force ranks and insignia of the Russian Federation|Air Force rank]]*
! Cosmonaut
! Age*
|-
|Senior Lieutenant
|[[Ivan Anikeyev]]
|27
|- style="background: PaleGreen;"
|Major
|[[Pavel Belyayev]]
|34
|-
|Senior Lieutenant
|[[Valentin Bondarenko]]
|23
|- style="background: PaleGreen;"
|Senior Lieutenant
|[[Valery Bykovsky]]
|25
|-
|Senior Lieutenant
|[[Valentin Filatyev]]
|30
|- style="background: PaleGreen;"
|Senior Lieutenant
|[[Yuri Gagarin]]
|25
|- style="background: PaleGreen;"
|Senior Lieutenant
|[[Viktor Gorbatko]]
|25
|-
|Captain
|[[Anatoli Kartashov]]
|27
|- style="background: PaleGreen;"
|Senior Lieutenant
|[[Yevgeny Khrunov]]
|26
|- style="background: PaleGreen;"
|Captain Engineer
|[[Vladimir Komarov]]
|32
|- style="background: PaleGreen;"
|Lieutenant
|[[Alexei Leonov]]
|25
|-
|Senior Lieutenant
|[[Grigori Nelyubov]]
|25
|- style="background: PaleGreen;"
|Senior Lieutenant
|[[Andrian Nikolayev]]
|30
|- style="background: PaleGreen;"
|Captain
|[[Pavel Popovich]]
|29
|-
|Senior Lieutenant
|[[Mars Rafikov]]
|26
|- style="background: PaleGreen;"
|Senior Lieutenant
|[[Georgi Shonin]]
|24
|- style="background: PaleGreen;"
|Senior Lieutenant
|[[Gherman Titov]]
|24
|-
|Senior Lieutenant
|[[Valentin Varlamov]]
|25
|- style="background: PaleGreen;"
|Senior Lieutenant
|[[Boris Volynov]]
|25
|-
|Senior Lieutenant
|[[Dmitri Zaikin]]
|27
|-
|colspan="3"| * At time of selection;   {{legend|PaleGreen|Flew in space}}
|}
By January 1959, the Soviets had begun preparations for human spaceflight.<ref name=p243>Siddiqi, p. 243</ref> Physicians from the Soviet Air Force insisted that the potential cosmonaut candidates be qualified Air Force pilots, arguing that they would have relevant skills such as exposure to higher [[g-force]]s, as well as [[ejection seat]] experience; also the Americans had chosen the [[Mercury Seven]] in April 1959, all of whom had aviation backgrounds.<ref name=p243/> The candidates had to be intelligent, comfortable in high-stress situations, and physically fit.<ref name=p247>Siddiqi, p. 247</ref>

Chief designer of the Soviet space program, [[Sergei Korolev]], decided that the cosmonauts must be male, between 25 and 30 years old, no taller than 1.75 meters, and weigh no more than 72 kilograms.<ref name=p244>Siddiqi, p. 244</ref> The final specifications for cosmonauts were approved in June 1959. By September interviews with potential cosmonauts had begun. Although the pilots were not told they might be flying into space, one of the physicians in charge of the selection process believed that some pilots had deduced this.<ref name=p244/> Just over 200 candidates made it through the interview process, and by October a series of demanding physical tests were conducted on those remaining, such as exposure to low pressures, and a [[High-G training|centrifuge test]].<ref name=p245>Siddiqi, p. 245</ref> By the end of 1959, 20 men had been selected. Korolev insisted on having a larger group than NASA's astronaut team of seven.<ref name=p245/> Of these 20, five were outside the desired age range; hence, the age requirement was relaxed. Unlike NASA's astronaut group, this group did not particularly consist of experienced pilots; Belyayev was the most experienced with 900 flying hours. The Soviet spacecraft were more automated than the American counterparts, so significant piloting experience was not necessary.<ref name=p246>Siddiqi, p.246</ref>

On January 11, 1960, Soviet [[Chief Marshal|Chief Marshal of Aviation]] [[Konstantin Vershinin]] approved plans to establish the [[Yuri Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Center|Cosmonaut Training Center]], whose exclusive purpose would be to prepare the cosmonauts for their upcoming flights; initially the facility would have about 250 staff.<ref name=p245/> Vershinin assigned the already famous aviator [[Nikolai Kamanin]] to supervise operations at the facility. By March, most of the cosmonauts had arrived at the training facility; Vershinin gave a welcome speech on March 7, and those who were present were formally inducted into the cosmonaut group.<ref name=p247/> By mid-June all twenty were permanently stationed at the center. In March the cosmonauts were started on a daily fitness regime, and were taught classes on topics such as rocket space systems, navigation, geophysics, and astronomy.

Owing to the initial facility's space limitations, the cosmonauts and staff were relocated to a new facility in [[Star City, Russia|Star City]] (then known as ''Zelenyy''), which has been the home of Russia's cosmonaut training program for over 60 years. The move officially took place on June 29, 1960.<ref name=p248>Siddiqi, p.248</ref>

===Vanguard Six===
At the [[Gromov Flight Research Institute]], a spacecraft simulator had been built, called the ''TDK-1''. Owing to the inefficiency of training all 20 cosmonauts in the simulator, it was decided they would select six men who would go through accelerated training.<ref name=p249>Siddiqi, p.249</ref> This group, which would be known as ''The Vanguard Six'', was decided on May 30, 1960, and initially consisted of Gagarin, Kartashov, Nikolayev, Popovich, Titov, and Varlamov.<ref name=p249/> Alexei Leonov recalls that these six were the shortest of the group of 20.<ref>Burgess and Hall, p.100</ref>

In July, shortly after relocation to Star City, two of the six were replaced on medical grounds. Firstly, during a centrifuge test of 8&nbsp;[[g-force|''g'']], Kartashov experienced some internal damage, causing minor [[Bleeding|hemorrhaging]] on his back.<ref>Burgess and Hall, p.101; and Siddiqi, p.249</ref> Despite Gagarin's requests for him to stay, the doctors decided to remove Kartashov from the group of six. Later in July, Varlamov was involved in a swimming accident. During a dive into a lake near the training center, he hit his head on the bottom, displacing a [[Cervical vertebrae|cervical vertebra]].<ref>Siddiqi, p.249; for a detailed account of this incident, see Burgess and Hall, p.102-107</ref> So by the end of July, the Vanguard Six were: Gagarin, Bykovskiy, Nelyubov, Nikolayev, Popovich, and Titov.<ref name="p249"/>

By January 1961, these six had all finished parachute and recovery training, as well as three-day regimes in simulators.<ref name=p261>Siddiqi, p.261</ref> On January 17, the six participated in their final exams, including time spent in a simulator, and a written test. Based on these results, a commission, supervised by Kamanin, recommended the use of the cosmonauts in the following order: Gagarin, Titov, Nelyubov, Nikolayev, Bykovskiy, Popovich.<ref name=p261/> At this stage Gagarin was the clear favorite to be the first man in space, not only based on the exams, but also among an informal peer evaluation.<ref name=p262>Siddiqi, p.262</ref>