in 1960, after the search and selection process, yuri gagarin was selected with 19 other space explorers for the "soviet space program". along with the other soon to be space explorers, he was tested by experiments made to test his physical and psychological score; he also underwent training for the upcoming flight. out of the twenty originally selected, the final choice for the first launch was between gagarin and gherman titov because of their performance in training, as well as their physical fitness.