On This Day In 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to travel in to outer space. Manning the Russian spacecraft Vostok 1, Gagarin was blasted in to outer space on a flight that lasted 108 minutes to become a national hero and help Russia leap to the forefront of the Space Race.
Whoever wrote the caption for that pic has made a crucial error, as the Kon-Tiki had a six-man team aboard the raft. Heyerdahl was the leader of the group, but he was most certainly not "by himself".