The Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" is a 32mm diameter circular silver medal with a raised rim on both the
obverse and reverse. The obverse of the medal bears an R-7 rocket launching from its pad, two supporting towers leaning at an angle away from the rocket, to the left of the rocket, a large four pointed star, to the right of the rocket, two smaller four pointed stars. The reverse of the medal bears the inscription "FOR MERIT IN SPACE EXPLORATION" (). Below the inscription, a relief letter "N" with an horizontal line reserved for the award serial number. The medal is secured to a standard Russian pentagonal mount by a ring through the medal suspension loop. The mount is covered by an overlapping 24mm wide silk moiré light blue ribbon with a 5mm dark blue central stripe, two white 2mm edge stripes and two 2mm white stripes separating the dark from the light blue. ==Award recipients==