Two days after Gagarin’s historic orbit around the Earth, this newsreel, headlined “Soviets Hail Space Hero,” gave Americans a look at Moscow in the throes of jubilation as the Soviets defeated the West in the early laps of the space race. Films like this – which includes a rare glimpse of Soviet state television – along with the urgings of President Kennedy, helped give the U.S. the political will it would take to would eventually win.

Before they started working on that however, they would have to watch the second part of the newsreel, about former President Eisenhower’s trip to Pennsylvania.

Update: This Soviet newsreel offers another perspective:

See also
‘New Moon: Reds Launch First Space Satellite’: The First American Newsreel About Sputnik
We Orbited the Earth for the First Time: The Original Newsreel