"Dear friends!

61 years ago, our country took another step towards the knowledge of the unknown, the conquest of the universe by man.

A new page in history has begun - the history of manned space flights.

And the first to open this heroic page was our compatriot Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin,” said Artemyev.

In turn, Matveev noted that Gagarin's flight was the pinnacle of the selfless work of many specialists and demonstrated to the world the superiority of Soviet science and technology.

“We are the first thanks to Yuri Gagarin.

We will never forget his feat.

So it was, is and will be.

We thank everyone who has worked and continues to work for the benefit of space exploration,” Korsakov concluded.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin, on the occasion of Cosmonautics Day, proposed a 50% increase in official salaries for those who flew into space, as well as 70% for those who are preparing to become astronauts.