MOSCOW, October 4. /TASS/. Since the start of 2017, Russian military specialists have detected and traced 50 launches of ballistic missiles and space rockets in Russia and abroad, the commander-in-chief of the Russian Space Forces, Col. Gen. Alexander Golovko, told reporters on Wednesday.

"During the current year, Russia’s missile warning system and special systems of space control and missile defenses have detected more than 50 launches of foreign and domestic ballistic missiles and space rockets," the official said on the occasion of the Space Forces Day, celebrated in Russia on October 4.

According to Golovko, the Main Space Intelligence Centre of the Russian Space Forces has detected and catalogued about 1,000 space objects, monitored the orbiting of over 350 spacecraft and oversaw the de-orbiting of 190 spacecraft.

It also issued ten warnings of space objects approaching Russian spacecraft at a dangerous distance.

"The Main Space Intelligence Centre of the Russian Space Forces paid special attention to the control of make-up and condition of orbital groupings of foreign space systems," the commander-in-chief of the Russian Space Forces said.

The Russian Space Forces conducted two launches of Soyuz-family rockets from the Plesetsk space center in Northern Russia with various satellites, as well as two test launches of mobile-based and silo-based versions of the RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missile.

The Russian Space Forces Day is celebrated in Russia annually on October 4 and marks the launch of the Earth’s first artificial satellite, carried out by the Soviet Union in 1957.