u/Comrade-Kisser1917

By that I mean Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space.

Yuri was born into a family that worked in a collective farm in the village of Klushino. After fighting against the nazis in World War 2 he would pursue an apprenticeship as a metalworker and study at a technical college in Saratov where he would join a local flying club. His talents from the flying club gave him the opportunity to enter the Orenburg Pilots School and ultimately be selected for the Soviet space program where he would be the first man launched into space.

Yuri Gagarins story shows us how in the Soviet Union, a simple metal worker, born into a farming family, could get an advanced education and become a cosmonot through his own dedication and talent. In contrast, most people involved in the US space program were white men from rich family's.