Russia’s UN envoy Vassily Nebenzia has unveiled a photo exhibition in the UN headquarters in New York, dedicated to the Soviet Union's launch of the Earth's first artificial satellite, Sputnik-1, 60 years ago. The breakthrough achievement kicked off an era of space exploration.

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Speaking at the opening ceremony Wednesday, Nebenzia said that by staging an exhibition the Russian mission to the UN wants to “embrace the unembraceable” and “remind of some of the milestones of Soviet unmanned space exploration.”

The importance of the pioneering mission by the Soviet Union is hard to overestimate as it “started a great era of applied space exploration” with the word “Sputnik” immediately entering all the world languages, he added.

Russia takes a special pride in that a replica of Sputnik adorns the lobby of the UN General Assembly, Nebenzia noted.

The opening ceremony was attended by UN Secretary General António Guterres and the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs Director, Simonetta Di Pippo, among other dignitaries.

Taking the floor, Guterres called the Sputnik entering the low orbit on October 4, 1957 “one of most remarkable developments in the world scene.”