Dear employees, veterans of the Corporation, colleagues from our
industry-wide enterprises and organizations, friends and like-minded
persons!

April 12th, 1961 is rightfully a historic day not only in the history of our
motherland, but in the history of all contemporary mankind as well. This day
is entered in the chronicle of space flights in gold letters, the first page
of which opens the launches of the world’s first artificial earth satellites
and the flight implemented by our fellow countryman Yuri Alexeyevich
Gagarin, the pioneer envoy of earth men to space, who accomplished a
108-minute round-the-world rapid flight in a near-earth orbit. The whole
world was amazed to learn about that flight, at that daring breakthrough to
space, of which people had been dreaming for many centuries and millenia.
That event became the symbol of the achievements not in national technology
and science alone, but also in the whole world civilization. That event
became reality due to, primarily, the purposeful and painstaking efforts
made by a lot of the enterprises and organizations of the national rocket
and space industry, the organizations of the Ministry of Defense, the
Academy of Sciences; due to the great efforts made under the lead of the
team of Experimental Design Bureau-1 headed by the academician S.P. Korolev,
currently RSC Energia called after his name.

The flight accomplished by Yu.A. Gagarin was the positive result of the
contribution that our workers, engineers, scientists made by their work in
space industry which was then in its infancy and based upon our
developments. The flight was the height of scientific research and work
efforts of the teams at our enterprises and organizations during the postwar
years, the years of Cold War and confrontation of the two World Powers.
There is no overstatement in saying that it is mush due to the outstanding
services of the team of RSC Energia after S.P. Korolev that the Mankind
continues today to pursue the path of further development of sophisticated
high technologies which made it possible for cosmonauts to stay in space for
a long time. We mean the team of the enterprise which retained and augmented
the best traditions of OKB-1 founded by S.P. Korolev; our enterprise which
is today the world renowned leader in manned cosmonautics and which in
cooperation with a lot of national and foreign enterprises and agencies
makes every endeavor to achieve the most important objective for all earth
men – to conquer adjacent space in current and difficult circumstances. We
paved the way for new travels to far planets and Stars.

The significance of this event may be more understandable to our team which
have gone through this way from the Vostok, Voskhod manned space vehicles to
the Soyuz space vehicles; from the Salyut orbital stations to the Mir
Stations. It is our team that has acquired such an invaluable long-term
experience in developing and building the International Space Station,
onboard of which the members of Prime Crew-6 are currently working,
including Kenneth Bauersocks (Commander), Nikolai Budarin and Donald Petite
(Flight Engineers). In late April this year there will be a crew rotation
and the Soyuz TMA-2 will be launched carrying the members of Prime Crew-7,
including cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and astronaut Edward Lu.

The core business of our enterprise has been for decades and remains the
same: manned cosmonautics. In recent years, however, the team of the
Corporation is also conducting other activities, including development and
manufacture of telecommunication satellites and other dedicated spacecraft
based upon multipurpose space platform ‘Yamal’; development of the Aurora,
Onega medium-class rocket and space complex projects; space upper stages
with liquid and solar power propulsion systems. It is appropriate to mention
here the continued operation of the sea – based Sea Launch Complex and a lot
of other near-term and long-term projects. Preparations are under way to
initiate the production of non-space products. The preparations indicate
that it is only the team with a broad experience in implementing manned
programs that is capable of introducing modern technologies complying with
high world quality standards into production in the shortest possible time
and providing large-scale production of the products in great demand in our
country, be it kitchen units, vacuum cleaners, water filters,
prosthetic-orthopedic articles or something else.

In connection with Cosmonautics Day, which is celebrated annually not only
as an industry-wide holiday, but also as a historic day for all Russians
(being in fact a national holiday), we are glad to express our sincere
thanks to the employees and veterans of the Corporation for a conscientious
work in all areas without exception, which are, obviously, necessary to
ensure viability of such a sophisticated production complex like our
Corporation. We appreciate great contribution of the teams of space industry
enterprises and organizations to the common cause of implementing complex
space programs. Also we express our hearty thanks to those who take an
active part and assist in solving the problems arising when implementing the
joint programs and projects.

We wish you, the employees and veterans of RSC Energia after S.P. Korolev
and industry-wide enterprises, our colleagues, friends and like-minded
persons good health, new creative successes, happiness and well – being in
life. It is important not only to witness new successes of the manned
cosmonautics in the next decade, but also to contribute to its further
progress.

Congratulations on the event signifying mankind breakthrough to new worlds.
Congratulations on the event which made it possible for the earth men to
become aware of modern civilization power.

Management of S.P. Korolev RSC Energia