Roscosmos presented the exhibition "People of Space" as part of Space Week

The project, prepared jointly by the Roscosmos State Corporation and the National Museum of Art and Photography at Mosfilm with the support of the Russian Peace Foundation, is not just a collection of impressive footage of rocket launches. This is the story of the journey captured by Roscosmos photographers Ivan Timoshenko and Artyom Pylaev.

Ivan Timoshenko has 14 years of experience in the rocket and space industry, 158 space rocket launches, and dozens of Soyuz spacecraft crews whom the photographer accompanied and met on Earth from orbit. His shots feature the closed, often invisible to the world, work of specialists who create the country's space history.

"I have a unique opportunity to show the closed work of specialists, to open the curtain to space. Tens of thousands of Roscosmos professionals are involved in the preparation and launch of the rocket. Thousands of engineers and scientists are building satellites, preparing experiments in space and on the International Space Station. Hundreds of specialists are preparing astronauts for flight. The units reach the Earth's orbit. Capturing history, keeping hopes, aspirations and dreams in the frame is my main task in my profession," says Ivan Tymoshenko.

Artyom Pylaev, whose photograph is primarily directed at a person, captures the very "engagement" that turns thousands of individual efforts into a single deafening moment of launch. For him, launching a rocket is the quintessence of a huge job: "Hundreds of hours of labor by thousands of people so that hundreds of tons of metal, fuel and electronics disappear into the sky in a few seconds."

The exhibition is held as part of Space Week, approved by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, and is part of the extensive program of the International Art Festival "Into Space of the Russian Soul", dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the first human spaceflight and the 65th anniversary of the Russian Peace Foundation.

Space Week takes place in Russia from April 6 to April 12. On December 29, the President of Russia signed a decree on the annual holding of the Week. In 2026, it is timed to coincide with the 65th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight into space.

Space Week will bring together hundreds of events across the country, from educational campaigns and scientific forums to cultural and sporting events.