A space capsule is an often-crewed spacecraft that uses a blunt-body reentry capsule to reenter the Earth's atmosphere without wings. Capsules are distinguished from other satellites primarily by the ability to survive reentry and return a payload to the Earth's surface from orbit. Capsule-based crewed spacecraft such as Soyuz or Orion are often supported by a service or adapter module, and sometimes augmented with an extra module for extended space operations. Capsules make up the majority of crewed spacecraft designs, although one crewed spaceplane, the Space Shuttle, has flown in orbit. Current examples of crewed space capsules include Soyuz, Shenzhou, and Dragon 2. Examples of new crew capsules currently in development include NASA's Orion, Boeing's Starliner, Russia's Orel, India's Gaganyaan, and China's next-generation crewed spacecraft. Historic examples of crewed capsules include Vostok, Mercury, Voskhod, Gemini, and Apollo, and active programs include the New Shepard launches. A crewed space capsule must be able to sustain life in an often demanding thermal and radiation environment in the vacuum of space. It may be expendable (used once, like Soyuz) or reusable (like Crew Dragon). History Vostok The Vostok was the Soviet Union's first crewed space capsule. The first human spaceflight was Vostok 1, accomplished on April 12, 1961 by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. The capsule was originally designed for use both as a camera platform for the Soviet Union's first spy satellite program, Zenit and as a crewed spacecraft. This dual-use design was crucial in gaining Communist Party support for the program. The design used a spherical reentry module, with a biconic descent module containing attitude control thrusters, on-orbit consumables, and the retro rocket for orbit termination. The basic design has remained in use for some 40 years, gradually adapted for a range of other uncrewed satellites. The reentry module was completely covered in ablative heat shield material, in diameter, weighing . The capsule was covered with a nose cone to maintain a low-drag profile for launch, with a cylindrical interior cabin approximately in diameter nearly perpendicular to the capsule's longitudinal axis. The cosmonaut sat in an ejection seat with a separate parachute for escape during a launch emergency and landing during a normal flight. The capsule had its own parachute for landing on the ground. Although official sources stated that Gagarin had landed inside his capsule, a requirement for qualifying as a first crewed spaceflight under International Aeronautical Federation (IAF) rules, it was