USSR Coins 1 Rouble 1979 Monument to the Conquerors of Space 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow
Commemorative issue: Games of the 22nd Olympiad in Moscow.
Obverse Design: The USSR’s emblem, the Red Star surrounding the globe, 15 turns of ribbon representing the 15 republics of the Union, the legend, in Cyrillic script, meaning: “U.S.S.R. 1 Rouble”.
Artist: S. M. Ivanov, modeler.
Reverse: Monument "To the Conquerors of Space", Sputnik 1, Salyut-Soyuz Soviet manned space station, with stars in the background, the Olympic emblem and the legend, in Cyrillic script, meaning: “The XXII Olympiad Moscow 1980” and the year 1979.
Artist: V. A. Ermakov.
Edge: Milled
Mintage: (Proof) 334,500.
Mintage: (Uncirculated) 4,665,500.
Diameter: 31 mm.
Weight: 12.8 grams.
Thickness: 2.3 mm.
Composition: Cupronickel.
Mint Mark: Leningrad Mint’s mintmark.
Struck by Leningrad Mint.
Sputnik 1 Sputnik 1 (Russian: Спутник-1 "Satellite-1", or ПС-1 ["PS-1", i.e. Russian: Простейший Спутник-1 "Elementary Satellite 1"]) was the first artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957. It was a 58 cm (23 in) diameter polished metal sphere, with four external radio antennas to broadcast radio pulses. It was visible all around the Earth and its radio pulses were detectable. This surprise 1957 success precipitated the American Sputnik crisis and triggered the Space Race, a part of the larger Cold War. The launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. Sputnik itself provided scientists with valuable information, even though it was not equipped with scientific instruments. The density of the upper atmosphere could be deduced from its drag on the orbit, and the propagation of its radio signals gave information about the ionosphere. Sputnik 1 was launched during the International Geophysical Year from Site No.1/5, at the 5th Tyuratam range, in Kazakh SSR (now at the Baikonur Cosmodrome). The satellite travelled at about 29,000 kilometres per hour (18,000 mph; 8,100 m/s), taking 96.2 minutes to complete each orbit. It transmitted on 20.005 and 40.002 MHz which were monitored by amateur radio operators throughout the world. The signals continued for 21 days until the transmitter batteries ran out on 26 October 1957. Sputnik 1 burned up on 4 January 1958, as it fell from orbit upon reentering Earth's atmosphere, after travelling about 70 million km (43.5 million miles) and spending 3 months in orbit.
Monument to the Conquerors of Space The Monument to the Conquerors of Space (Russian: Монумент «Покорителям космоса») was erected in Moscow in 1964 to celebrate achievements of the Soviet people in space exploration. It depicts a starting rocket that rises on its contrail. The monument is 110 meters (360.9 feet) tall, has 77° incline, and is made of titanium. The Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics is located inside the base of the monument. The monument is located outside the main entry to today's All-Russia Exhibition Centre (known until 1992 as the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy, VDNKh), in the northeastern part of Moscow, near Prospekt Mira ("Peace Avenue"). The easiest access is from the VDNKh subway station. Since the 1960s, this part of Moscow in general has had a high concentration of space-themed sights and names: besides the monument and the museum under it, the grand "Cosmos" pavilion in the Exhibition Centre displayed many artifacts of the Soviet space program. Many streets in the area have been named after the precursors of the space program (Nikolai Kibalchich, Friedrich Zander, Yuri Kondratyuk) and its participants (Sergey Korolyov). The Cosmonauts Alley south of the monument features busts of Soviet cosmonauts. The choice of this part of Moscow for space-related names and monuments may have been inspired by the fact that Prospekt Mira runs toward the north-eastern suburbs of Moscow, where, in Podlipki (today's Korolyov City) much of the space program was based. Korolyov himself lived in a house within a few blocks from the monument, which is now preserved as Korolyov Memorial Museum (Russian: Дом-музей академика С. П. Королёва). In March 1958, a few months after the launch of Sputnik 1, a competition was announced for the best design of an obelisk celebrating the dawn of the Space Age. Out of some 350 proposals, the design by sculptor A.P. Faidysh-Krandievsky and architects A.N. Kolchin and M.O. Barshch was chosen. The grand opening of the monument took place on October 4, 1964, on the day of the 7th anniversary of the Sputnik 1 launch. The monument was designed to accommodate a museum in its base. However, it took until April 10, 1981 (two days before the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight) to complete the preparatory work and open the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics. The museum reopened on April 12, 2009 after three years of renovations.
Salyut programme The Salyut programme (Russian: Салю́т, IPA:, Salute or Fireworks) was the first space station programme undertaken by the Soviet Union, which consisted of a series of four crewed scientific research space stations and two crewed military reconnaissance space stations over a period of 15 years from 1971 to 1986. Two other Salyut launches failed. Salyut was, on the one hand, designed to carry out long-term research into the problems of living in space and a variety of astronomical, biological and Earth-resources experiments, and on the other hand this civilian program was used as a cover for the highly secretive military Almaz stations, which flew under the Salyut designation. Salyut 1, the first station in the program, became the world's first crewed space station. Salyut broke several spaceflight records, including several mission duration records, the first ever orbital handover of a space station from one crew to another, and various spacewalk records. The Soyuz program was vital for evolving space station technology from basic, engineering development stage, single-docking port stations to complex, multi-ported long-term orbital outposts with impressive scientific capabilities, whose technological legacy continues to the present day. Ultimately, experience gained from the Salyut stations went on to pave the way for multimodular space stations such as Mir and the International Space Station, with each of those stations possessing a Salyut-derived core module at its heart. Mir-2 (DOS-8), the final spacecraft from the Salyut series, became one of the first modules of the ISS. The first module of the ISS, the Russian-made Zarya, relied heavily on technologies developed in the Salyut programme. Soyuz programme The Soyuz programme (Russian: Союз, meaning "Union") is a human spaceflight programme that was initiated by the Soviet Union in the early 1960s, originally part of a Moon landing project intended to put a Soviet cosmonaut on the Moon. It was the third Soviet human spaceflight programme after the Vostok and Voskhod programme. The programme consists of the Soyuz spacecraft and the Soyuz rocket and is now the responsibility of the Russian Federal Space Agency. Since the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011, all human spaceflights to and from the International Space Station have been carried out using Soyuz.
Moscow-1980 Olympic Coins
The Moscow Olympics were the first Olympic games to be held in a socialist country. An Act of the Soviet government authorized the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of the USSR to issue a 28-coin collection of five and ten roubles in proof and uncirculated qualities. There was also six proof and six uncirculated gold 100 roubles, five proof and five uncirculated platinum 150 roubles, and six proof and six uncirculated 1 rouble coins.
1 Rouble 1979 University of Moscow 1 Rouble 1980 Monument of Yuri Dolgorukiy 1 Rouble 1979 Monument to the Conquerors of Space
Geographic Series
Silver 5 Rubles 1977 Tallinn Silver 5 Rubles 1977 Minsk Silver 5 Rubles 1977 Kiev Silver 5 Rubles 1977 Leningrad Silver 10 Rubles 1977 Moscow Kremlin
The Olympic motto is the hendiatris Citius, Altius, Fortius, which is Latin for "Faster, Higher, Stronger." The motto was proposed by Pierre de Coubertin on the creation of the International Olympic Committee in 1894.
Series – "Citius" Faster
Series – "Altius" Higher
Series – "Fortius" Stronger
Series – Sports and grace
Series – Folk sports
Olympic Gold Coins
Gold 100 Rubles 1977 Sport and Peace symbol Gold 100 Rubles 1980 Olympic Flame Gold 100 Rubles 1978 Central Lenin Stadium Gold 100 Rubles 1978 Krylatskoye Rowing Canal Gold 100 Rubles 1979 Druzhba Multipurpose Arena
Olympic Platinum Coins
Platinum 150 Rubles 1979 Chariot racing Platinum 150 Rubles 1978 Discobolus Platinum 150 Rubles 1979 Ancient Greek wrestlers