Facts about Roscosmos
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Roscosmos's Luna 2 spacecraft became the first human-made object to reach the Moon on September 14, 1959, impacting its surface and demonstrating Soviet technological capability.
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Mir, operated by Roscosmos from 1986 to 2001, accumulated 4,594 days in continuous orbit, making it humanity's longest-inhabited space station before the ISS.
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Proton rockets designed and built by Roscosmos have completed over 400 launches since 1965, making them among the most reliable heavy-lift vehicles in spaceflight history.
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Lunokhod 1, deployed by Roscosmos in 1970, became the first robotic rover to explore another celestial body, traversing 10.5 kilometers across the lunar surface.
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Gagarin's orbital flight aboard Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961, made the Soviet cosmonaut the first human in space, cementing Roscosmos's early dominance in human spaceflight achievement.
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Venera 7 became the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from another planet's surface when Roscosmos landed it on Venus in December 1970.
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Roscosmos launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, on October 4, 1957, initiating the Space Age and spurring global competition in space exploration.
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Roscosmos operates Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, which has launched approximately 70% of all orbital missions since 1957.
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In 2011, Roscosmos began relying exclusively on Soyuz vehicles for crewed ISS access after the Space Shuttle program retired, making Russia the sole provider of human spaceflight to the station for over a decade.
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The International Space Station has been continuously inhabited since November 2000, with Roscosmos providing essential Soyuz ferry vehicles and Progress cargo ships for all 24 years of occupation.
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Russia's Soyuz spacecraft has completed over 140 crewed missions to orbit since its first flight in 1967, making it the most frequently launched human spaceflight vehicle.
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Since 1957, Roscosmos and its Soviet predecessor have launched over 2,600 satellites, more than any other space agency.