Space age

For a period of many millennia man's inquisitive mind strove to penetrate into the depth of the Universe. This expresses man's unquenchable thirst for knowledge, his strive to understand his role in the world.

By flying into space man is directly penetrating into a new sphere which involves frequently unpredictable discoveries. Scientists are interested in space exploration because today physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy need new data, which can not be found on the Earth.

In 1957 the Soviet Union successfully launched the world's first satellite, Sputnik I. The first manned spaceship "Vostok", piloted by Juri Gagarin was launched in the Soviet Union on April 12, 1961. It ushered in a new era in the history of mankind. This feat set in the motion other events that led to the landing by the USA two first astronauts on the Moon in 1969 and to a number of other space exploration efforts by other countries, including joint flights in which international crews participated.

The year 1975 saw a successful experiment flight of Soviet and American spaceships.

The most fantastic projects have become a reality. Since the first space flight cosmonauts have orbited the Earth, walked out into the space, transferred from one space station to another. All this became possible due to achievements of cybernetics, automation and other branches of science.

The world interest in outer space has grown steadily with advance of space technology. It has been unanimously recognised that use of outer space should be carried out for the good of science and for the benefit of all the states and no weapons of mass destruction should be placed in the orbit around the Earth or stationed in space. Outer space should be used only for peaceful purposes.