45th anniversary of world's first space satellite launch in USSR marked Friday

The 45th anniversary of the day when the world's first artificial satellite of the Earth was launched in the USSR is marked on Friday. It was named SS-1 (simplest satellite 1), a term coined by the first Soviet spacecraft designers. That day, October 4, 1957, was proclaimed "The Day of the Space Era Start for Mankind" by the International Astronautics Federation in 1967.

Over 5,200 space satellites have been launched since October 4, 1957, RIA Novosti correspondent was told at the press office of Russia's Space Force, citing the Russian Cosmonautics Federation. Of them, over 3,300 have been launched in the Soviet Union.

The second nation after Russia in the number of launched space vehicles is the U.S.; next come the European Space Agency comprising 16 states of Europe, Japan, China, France, India, Britain, Germany and Canada.

At present 2,800 space objects are in the near-Earth orbit and in outer space. Of that number, 1,600 are controlled by the Russian Space Force, the Space Force press office said.

The service life of the first Earth satellite was short - merely three months. But it blazed the trail for grand space programs and Russian and world space projects, Space Force Commander Anatoly Perminov said at the ceremony celebrating the 45th anniversary of the launching of the world's first space satellite.