The fourth of October is celebrated each year in Russia as Space Forces Day; the date was timed to coincide with the first-ever launching of a man-made satellite into space in 1957.
Established in 1992, the Russian Space Forces were responsible for handling all of the country's military space operations until they were replaced by the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces in 2011. This branch of the Russian Armed Forces is responsible for the country's strategic missile defense.
The fourth of October is celebrated each year in Russia as Space Forces Day; the date was timed to coincide with the first-ever launching of a man-made satellite into space in 1957. Established in 1992, Russian Space Forces were responsible for handling all of the country's military space operations until they were replaced by the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces in 2011. This branch of the Russian Armed Forces is responsible for the country's strategic missile defense.
Above: Inside the command and control station of the Fourth Air Defense Brigade.
Above: Inside the command and control station of the Fourth Air Defense Brigade.
In August 1992, the Military Space Force of the Russian Defense Ministry was established, with facilities at the Baikonur and Plesetsk space centers. The Russian Space Forces were responsible for handling all of the country's military space operations until they were replaced by the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces in 2011.
Above: S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile system being deployed for action.
Above: S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile system being deployed for action.
Reformed in 2001 as an independent section of the Russian military, the Russian Space Forces' primary goals were to inform the country's leadership about missile attacks as soon as possible, and to provide ballistic missile defense.
Above: Yuri Gagarin visiting the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy.
Above: Yuri Gagarin visiting the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy.
About 20 percent of the state rearmament program, $85.6 billion, is to be allocated to the Aerospace Defense Force.
Above: Members of the ISS-48/49 main crew: Takui Onishi(L), JAXA; Kathleen Rubens (C), NASA; and Anatoly Ivanishin (R)of Roskosmos during splashdown training at the EMERCOM facility in Noginsk. Their space flight is scheduled for 2016.
Above: Members of the ISS-48/49 main crew: Takui Onishi(L), JAXA; Kathleen Rubens (C), NASA; and Anatoly Ivanishin (R)of Roskosmos during splashdown training at the EMERCOM facility in Noginsk. Their space flight is scheduled for 2016.
Less than four years after Russia launched Earth's first artificial satellite into orbit, Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space, and the first to orbit the Earth.
Above: Monument to the first astronaut, Yuri Gagarin, in Star City, Russia.
Above: Monument to the first astronaut, Yuri Gagarin, in Star City, Russia.
