Monument to the creators of the first satellite of the Earth
The successful launch of the Soviet artificial Earth satellite on October 4, 1957 went down in history as the first step in the conquest of outer space by mankind. The monument «The First Satellite» was erected in 1963 to this significant event at the Rizhskaya metro station at the junction of Prospekt Mira and the third transport ring. The monument is a sculpture of a worker carrying the first satellite over his head was created and launched by Soviet scientists and workers of a huge number of industries and branches of the USSR. The monument is dedicated to an important milestone in human exploration of outer space. The hands of the worker are open, the clothes «flutter» in the wind. With one foot he rests on a block of stone, which makes it possible to perceive the monument not static, but filled with movement. A similar monument is mentioned in the novel published in 1958 by the Soviet science fiction writer Ivan Efremov «Andromeda Nebula»: «… there was a statue of a man in overalls at the top… In his right hand he held a hammer, with his left hand he raised high up into the pale equatorial sky a sparkling ball with four appendages of transmitting antennas. It was a monument to the creators of the first artificial satellites of the Earth, who accomplished this feat of labor, ingenuity, courage». The sculpture is mounted on a pedestal lined with gray polished granite slabs. On the pedestal there is a commemorative inscription made in slotted letters: «To the creators of the first satellite of the Earth. 1957» (western facade); as well as the signature of the authors: «Sculptor is Kovner S.Y. Architect is Kartsev V.N. 1963. The monument is oriented facing West towards the Riga railway station and with its back to the building of the Rizhskaya metro station, surrounded by a lawn with an artificially created grass cover in the form of a circle. It was restored in 1998 by CC “Torgovyj Dom”» (eastern facade).
Address: Moscow, 92 Mira Avenue, building 1
