Cosmonautics Day at Presidential Library

On 16 April 2025, the Presidential Library hosted the annual conference dedicated to the Cosmonautics Day.

Traditionally, on this day meetings with cosmonauts and representatives of the space industry are held, events, projects and technologies related to the peaceful exploration of space are discussed. This year the event was dedicated to three anniversaries at once: the 70th anniversary of Baikonur cosmodrome - the legendary launching pad of mankind to the stars, the 60th anniversary of the first manned spacewalk by Alexei Leonov, and the 50th anniversary of the Soyuz-Apollo project - a joint flight of Soviet and American spacecraft during the Cold War.

On behalf of the Director General of the Presidential Library, Chairman of the St. Petersburg Regional Branch of the Russian Military Historical Society Yuri Nosov, the greeting was read out by Igor Solonko, Director of the Department for Scientific and Educational Work. He noted that the Presidential Library pays great attention to the history of cosmonautics development: the electronic collection Outer Space, which includes research, newsreel fragments, photos and periodicals, is constantly updated on the institution's portal, and various thematic events dedicated to space are regularly held in the library.

The annual conference was devoted to the development of the space industry in our country, the contribution of Russian astronomers to space exploration and the creator of space television Peter Bratslavets, whose 100th anniversary is celebrated this year. Employees of the St. Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrument Engineering and the D. F. Ustinov Baltic State Technical University VOENMEKh told about the participation of these universities in the Soviet and Russian space programme.

The participants of the annual conference "Cosmonautics Day at the Presidential Library" on Senate Square, 3, could get acquainted with the multimedia exhibition "The 60th Anniversary of the First Human Spacewalk", which opened that day. On the plasma panels the guests were presented materials from the collection of the Presidential Library: a drawing of the founder of modern cosmonautics Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, historical photos, newspaper and magazine publications, pictures of Alexei Leonov and other artists, etc. dedicated to space. The multimedia exhibition is open at the Presidential Library until 25 April 2025. To visit the exhibition it is necessary to pre-register by phone (812) 334-25-14 or send an email to excursion@prlib.ru.

The annual conference "Cosmonautics Day at Presidential Library" was attended by representatives of the A. F. Mozhaisky Military Space Academy, D. F. Ustinov Baltic State Technical University "VOENMEKH", St. Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation, Institute of Applied Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The recording of the event is available on the Presidential Library's Rutube channel.