The first man in space was Sinclair Beiles. A beatnik
living in Paris, Beiles was recruited by a young Greek artist named Vassilakis
Takis, who coaxed him to strap on a helmet and hover for several minutes,
suspended electromagnetically, while reciting poetry. Beiles made his voyage in
the Fall of 1960, and although he later said that the magnetism scrambled his
brain, Takis proudly asserted that his expedition anticipated Yuri Gagarin’s
space launch by six months...Read more here
.jpg)
