I am presently reading 'Two sides of the Moon' by David Scott and Alexei Leonov.
This book is about the concurrent lives and experiences of both the astronauts and cosmonauts during the cold wars 'race to the moon'.
Interestingly, Since the SL-3 booster was severely power limited due to the weight of the Vostok spacecraft, the first cosmonauts would eject from the craft at an altitude of 23,000 feet.
After ejection, the cosmonaut would separate from his seat and parachute to earth landing at a speed of about 5m/sec (16.5 ft/sec).
(To qualify internationally as the first orbital flight, this had to be kept secret, as the Cosmonaut was supposed to land safely IN the spacecraft. Never the less, Yuri Gagarin WAS the first man to circle the Earth.)
Also the Gemini program used ejection seats for emergency egress.
Found these;
http://www.ejectionsite.com/vostok.htm
http://www.ejectionsite.com/gemini.htm
