 According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, "Gagarin" measures between 8.83 and 9.63 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has an albedo between 0.138 and 0.164, The "Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link" assumes a standard albedo of 0.20 and derives a diameter of 8.00 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 12.85.This minor planet was named for Russian–Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (1934–1968), Hero of the Soviet Union and first human to journey into outer space by circumnavigating Earth in 1961.Gagarin died in a jet fighter crash in 1968, the year the asteroid was discovered.