Was Joe Kittinger really the first man in space? I’ve seen reports saying he actually entered ‘space’ and others that say it was ‘near space’. What even qualifies as space?
PS… this is a page about the matter
100,000 feet in a balloon is an impressive feat, but it’s not space. The only way a balloon could get to that altitude is
Hamsters ate HALF my post 
Try again:
The only way a balloon could get to 100,000 feet is if it were bouyant in the atmosphere at 100,000 feet. The terms “space” and “atmosphere” are widely regarded as excluding each other.
On the other hand, uri Gagarin rode a rocket to an altitude of nearl 1,000,000 feet (187.75 miles) in 1962. That’s not only above most of the atmosphere, but it’s enough above it that it’s possible to go into orbit. That’s space.
What about Gagarin’s initial 1961 space flight?
Yuri Gagarin orbited the earth in his historic space flight in late April 1961. That makes him the first man in space in my book. Alan Shepard became the first American in space when he made his sub-orbital 15 minute flight on May 5, 1961. John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth on February 20, 1962.