Dear and esteemed veterans of space industry,
colleagues, friends!

It was forty five years ago, on October 4, 1957, at 22
hours 28 minutes, Moscow time, that the first artificial
satellite of the Earth – Sputnik – was launched. It took
the launch vehicle, R-7, 315 seconds to put it into a low
Earth orbit, and it completed 1440 orbits around our planet,
exciting worldwide sincere wonder and admiration.
The first satellite and the R-7 launch vehicle were a result
of hard work of scientists, engineers, designers, specialists
and workers of the Special Design Bureau Number One and
its pilot-production plant with a close involvement of our
traditional subcontractors. By being the first to open to
the mankind the road to space, the path to new knowledge
about the Universe and to its treasures, the teams of our
companies which were headed by the outstanding scientist
and designer, academician Sergei Korolev, have become involved
for good in the development of this, the most science-intensive,
line of human endeavor.

The launch date of the first satellite is by right considered
as the beginning of the space age, the age of the Man’s
conquest of space. Over the years since that date, the mankind
has traveled a long way. Thousands of man-made objects for
all kinds of purposes have been launched into space orbits.
Currently, hundreds of various spacecraft operate in near-Earth
and interplanetary space, bringing in new information about
space and Earth, providing communications, weather forecasts,
environmental monitoring, monitoring of compliance with
international agreements, and many other things. Construction
is under way at the International Space Station, which flies
around the Earth in manned mode. There are automatic scientific
instruments that periodically operate on the surfaces of
the Moon, Mars, Venus and in orbits around them. Other planets
of the Solar System are also beginning to unveil their mysteries
thanks to man-made robotic travelers which expand our knowledge
about the Universe. Earth’s civilization perseveres in reaching
out to the unfathomable depths of space. The space age that
started in 1957 lives on in new efforts and ambitious projects
planned for the next few decades.

Dear and esteemed veterans of space industry, our colleagues
at the companies and in the organizations of the industry,
friends and partners in joint projects, people of our beautiful
planet Earth,

We congratulate you on the 45th anniversary of the launch
of the first satellite!

We extend our thanks to all those who contributed their
labor and knowledge to creating and developing rocket and
space technology and world’s space science.

We hope that the Earthlings will still have many occasions
to prove their ability for reasonable and intelligent behavior
while advancing into space in the interests of preserving
and developing the human civilization.

We wish you all good health, new achievements in your creative
work, and happy personal life!