THE 1ST ARTIFICIAL SATELLITE. 60 YEARS OF THE SPACE EXPLORATION ERA
Today the whole world celebrates the most significant event in the history of space exploration — the launching of the first artificial Earth satellite. 60 years ago on this day, the Sputnik (R-7) carrier rocket launched from the 5th research range of the USSR Ministry of Defense — later on named the Baikonur Cosmodrome — ascent into space the Simplest Sputnik-1.
The historic event opened to the mankind the way to exploration of near-earth space and marked the beginning of the space era. Thanks to the hard work of Soviet scientists, our country provided the world with an opportunity to hear the first signals from space, and subsequently, that knowledge became a worldwide-recognized starting point of space exploration and cosmonautics.
Within almost 60 years of the space era, cosmonautics and related activities have been evolving every day: from the launch of the 1st simplest spacecraft to the studies of other planets, from the first cosmodrome to the Vostochny Spaceport, and from the historic space flight of Yury Gagarin to long-term manned space expeditions.
Maintaining our expertise gained over the years, we continue to pursue progress in this domain, and today, our achievements prove that with each new successful launch Russia strengthens its status as a space power.
Glavkosmos has the honor to congratulate you on this remarkable occasion and wishes you to maintain the enthusiasm and inspiration with which we continue to move forward. May the today’s celebration remind you once again that we will always be a step ahead, and our goal is to promote the achievements of the Russian cosmonautics and space activities all over the world!