CRI听力：Russians Celebrate 50th Anniversary of Sputnik Satellite Launch

Engineers, military officials and former cosmonauts have celebrated the 50th anniversary of the launch of the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik.

A monument of Sputnik was unveiled on Thursday in the town of Korolyov, which is considered the cradle of the Russian space program, where Russian spacecraft were and continue to be built.

Military officials have also held a small ceremony to lay flowers at the grave of Sergei Korolyov, the father of the Soviet space program.

His daughter, Natalia Korolyova, attended the ceremony.

"We are marking the fiftieth anniversary of the world's first artificial earth satellite, which opened a new space era in the life of mankind."

The success of Sputnik amazed the world. That achievement was followed just four years later by another historic milestone: Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space.