By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Hailing Yuri Gagarin’s flight into space 50 years ago as a “symbolic” and “revolutionary” event, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said his country still dreams about “conquering” other planets and flying to distant stars.
The first manned flight in space remains a landmark for mankind, he said in an interview with China Central Television (CCTV).
“I believe it was a truly revolutionary event, a highly symbolic one. It was a tremendous achievement of Soviet cosmonautics, which divided the world into ‘before’ and ‘after’ the flight what has been termed the ‘space era’,” Medvedev said.
“I am proud of the fact that it was my country that made this first step,” he said.
On the subject of future space programmes, Medvedev said although they have become less idealistic and more pragmatic, the Russian space dream lives on.
“We still cherish a hope, however, that sometime we will be able to conquer other planets, other stellar systems.”
“I don’t know how soon we will be able to achieve that, but I think that mankind will always try to follow these two approaches simultaneously – on the one hand, the dream of exploring outer space, and, on the other hand, a truly pragmatic approach to outer space, which may bring both scientific and practical benefits.”