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Russian Top Secret Mozhaisky Military Medal

Russian Top Secret Mozhaisky Military Space Academy Medal (1.25" diameter) This metal/enamel bronze-colored medal of the Mozhaisky Military Space Academy Department of Radio electronics located in St. Petersburg. Alexandr Fyodorovich Mozhaisky (1825-1890) was a Russian naval officer, aviation pioneer, researcher and inventor in the design of heavier-than-air-craft, on which he began work in the 1860's. He developed and build a steam-powered monoplane and tested it in 1884 at Krasnoye Selo, near St. Petersburg, where It took off from a jump ramp and flew for approximately 100 feet before crashing. This is the second power-assisted take-off in history (after the 1867 flight of the model monoplane built by Felix Du Temple and his brother Louis, in France, the propellers on which were driven by a small steam engine. It took off under its own power, flew a short distance, and glided to a safe landing, making the first successful flight of a powered aircraft of any sort.) During the Stalin era in the Soviet Union, Mozhaisky was trumpeted as the inventor of the airplane and this top secret academy was named in his honor. The medal is attached to a blue and red ribbon in original box. Good condition. Rare!