Roscosmos Chief Congratulates NASA Administrator On 50th Anniversary Of Moon Landing

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th July, 2019) Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, on Saturday, congratulated Jim Bridenstine, the administrator of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), on the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing.

"Dear Jim! 50 years ago Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins put themselves into the world's space exploration history books. They joined the crew of the great pioneers, who dared to set off on a journey to the unknown in order to push the boundaries of the reachable world for the humanity," Rogozin said in a statement published on the Roscosmos website.

Rogozin continued by paying tribute to NASA engineers who had contributed to the creation of the Saturn V, the world's first superheavy carrier rocket and the Apollo, which were involved in the US lunar program.

"Their joint efforts, skills and knowledge turned into a reliable rocket and space system, which allowed implementing the 'Soyuz-Apollo' project in the following years.

I do believe that our common goal is to be worthy of our great predecessors, to enrich their heritage and overcome all the difficulties on the Earth in order to continue the expansion of the humanity into space," the Roscosmos chief pointed out.

The United States' Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to land on Earth's natural satellite. The landing took place on July 20, 1969. Between 1969 and 1972, the United States carried out six crewed landings on the Moon.

Through the Soviet Union was the first country to send a human-made object to the Moon, which happened on September 13, 1959, its crewed lunar program was canceled after several major rocket failures between 1969 and 1972.