The message reads, in part:
“I welcome the participants and guests of this international festival devoted to the world’s first cosmonaut Yury Gagarin. His space flight was one of the major events of the 20th century. It opened a path to the stars and largely determined Russia’s development plans for a national space programme.
Your festival, which has brought together guests from various regions of the country and abroad, is an event of great educational importance. The events in the festival’s full programme tell us the story of courage and valour of our national trailblazers and describe the results of the work of scientists, designers and engineers over many years who make truly unique discoveries, promote the development of near space and lay the groundwork for Russia’s future successes in space.
I am sure that the festival will attract the interest of the broadest audience, will help promote the achievements of Russian space science and will hold the memory of Yury Gagarin’s accomplishments and his life.”