On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of humanity’s first space flight and the 40th anniversary of the first space flight by a Mongolian and the Mongolia-Soviet space flight, ‘Man-Earth-Cosmos’ Mongolia-Russia joint exhibition opened at the Russian Center for Science and Culture on March 23.

Orders awarding the 'Hero of Mongolian People’s Republic' title to Soviet astronauts, rare photographs of the historical space flight by a Mongolian, and other interesting documents kept in the national central archives are on display at the exhibition organized by the National Archives of Mongolia, archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, National Musuem of Mongolia, MONTSAME, National News Agency, Mongolian Military Museum, Mongolian National Art Gallery, Mongolian Space Technology Association, Mars-V Project, and Mazaalai program by Mongolian National University. 

“The first space flight by a Mongolian was a special occasion in the 20th century history of Mongolia,” underlined Deputy Prime Minister of Mongolia S.Amarsaikhan in his opening remarks, adding, “Mongolia aims to develop a new national satellite communications network and improve the telecommunications network operation and control system by 2050”. The Deputy PM also highlighted the more than 50 experiments and research works conducted as part of the space flight greatly contributed to the development of science in Mongolia and that space technology is developing in Mongolia with the creation of the Mazaalai satellite by young scientists.   

At the opening ceremony of the exhibition, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Mongolia Azizov Iksander Kubarovich presented the Order of Alexander Nevsky to Mongolian national, Hero of Mongolian People’s Republic and Soviet Union, major general, first Mongolian astronaut, President of Mongolia-Russia Friendship Society J.Gurragchaa after reading out Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decree to award the order to J.Gurragchaa in recognition of his contribution to the development of Mongolia-Russia comprehensive partnership.

‘MONTSAME Agency reports on Mongolia-Soviet space flight’ section of the photography exhibition displays the press passes, books, and devices that were used by the MONTSAME reporters and photographers and photos with signitures of the astronauts in addition to photos and reports on the events.

MONTSAME agency Deputy Director Sh.Batbold said, “A MONTSAME team of seven comprised of columnists, reporters, and photographers covered the event on site and sent reports and photos to other media organizaitons of Mongolia including newspapers Unen and Pioneriin Unen."

“MONTSAME made reportages on all of the events related to the flight between 1978 and 1981 and took over 60 percent of all photographs of the space flight in Mongolia, especially those in the archives. Photographers S.Batsukh and Ts.Nina of the agency took the historical photos, while T.Galdan and Ya. Sukhbaatar did the reporting. Later, ‘Stellar Brothers’ photo book featuring photos taken by the two MONTSAME photographers was released in collaboration with TASS Agency of the Soviet Union,” he emphasized.

Deputy PM S.Amarsaikhan, Chairman of Ulaanbaatar city council J.Batbayasgalan, retired astronaut J.Gurragchaa, Ambassador I.K.Azizov and other officials saw the exhibition.

City council chair J.Batbayasgalan congratulated S.Batsukh and Ya.Sukhbaatar, saying, “Those who reported on and photographed the important historical event all deserve credit,” and thanked MONTSAME Agency for organizing the exhibition. Hero of Mongolian People’s Republic and Soviet Union J.Gurragchaa underscored that the agency played an important part in giving publicity to the space flight and collecting archive materials.