''Baiqoñyr ğaryş ailağy''
rus, Космодром Байконур
''Kosmodrom Baykonur'' , image = Baikonur Cosmodrome Soyuz launch pad.jpg , caption = The Baikonur Cosmodrome's "

Gagarin's Start Gagarin's Start (russian: Гагаринский старт, ''Gagarinskiy start''), also known as Baikonur Site 1 or Site 1/5 is a launch site at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan that was used for the Soviet space program and is now manag ...

Soyuz Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз ( Russian and Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (''profsoyuz'') or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Сою́з Сове́тских Социалис ...

launch pad A launch pad is an above-ground facility from which a rocket-powered missile or space vehicle is vertically launched. The term ''launch pad'' can be used to describe just the central launch platform ( mobile launcher platform), or the entir ...

prior to the rollout of

Soyuz TMA-13 Soyuz TMA-13 (russian: Союз ТМА-13, ''Union TMA-13'') was a Soyuz mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The spacecraft was launched by a Soyuz-FG rocket at 07:01 GMT on 12 October 2008. It undocked at 02:55 GMT on 8 April 20 ...

, 10 October 2008. , LID = GC0015 , type =

Spaceport A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft, by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word ''spaceport'', and even more so ''cosmodrome'', has traditionally been used for sites capable ...

, owner-oper =

Roscosmos The State Space Corporation "Roscosmos" (russian: Государственная корпорация по космической деятельности «Роскосмос»), commonly known simply as Roscosmos (russian: Роскосмос) ...

Russian Aerospace Forces , location =

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

(leased to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

) , opened = , built = , timezone = UTC+06:00 , utc = +06:00 , elevation-m = 90 , metric-elev = y , coordinates = , website = , image_map = , image_mapsize = , image_map_alt = , image_map_caption = , pushpin_map = Kazakhstan#Russia#Soviet Union , pushpin_mapsize = , pushpin_map_alt = , pushpin_map_caption = , pushpin_relief = , pushpin_image = , pushpin_label = , pushpin_label_position = , pushpin_mark = Rocktet icon201001.svg , stat-year = , footnotes = The Baikonur Cosmodrome ( kk, Байқоңыр ғарыш айлағы, translit=Baiqoñyr ğaryş ailağy, ; russian: Космодром Байконур, translit=Kosmodrom Baykonur, ) is a

spaceport A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft, by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word ''spaceport'', and even more so ''cosmodrome'', has traditionally been used for sites capable ...

in an area of southern

leased to

. The Cosmodrome is the world's first spaceport for orbital and human launches and the largest (in area) operational

space launch facility A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft, by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word ''spaceport'', and even more so ''cosmodrome'', has traditionally been used for sites capable ...

. All crewed Russian

spaceflight Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly spacecraft into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such as satellites in o ...

s are launched from Baikonur. The spaceport is in the desert steppe of Baikonur, about east of the Aral Sea and north of the river Syr Darya. It is near the

Tyuratam Töretam ( kk, link=no, Төретам, Töretam; russian: link=no, Тюратам, Tyuratam) is a station on the main Moscow to Tashkent railway, located in Kazakhstan. The name means "Töre's grave" in the Kazakh language. Töre, or more formal ...

railway station and is about above sea level. The spaceport is currently leased by the

Kazakh Government The Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan ( kk, Қазақстан Республикасының Үкіметі, tr, ''Qazaqstan Respublikasynyñ Ükımetı'') oversees a presidential republic. The President of Kazakhstan, currently Kassym- ...

to the

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

until 2050 and is managed jointly by the

and the Russian Aerospace Forces. The shape of the area leased is an ellipse, measuring east–west by north–south, with the cosmodrome at the centre. Baikonur Cosmodrome was established on 2 June 1955 by the former

Soviet Ministry of Defence The Ministry of Defense (Minoboron; russian: Министерство обороны СССР) was a government ministry in the Soviet Union. The first Minister of Defense was Nikolai Bulganin, starting 1953. The Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star) was the ...

. It was originally built as the base of operations for the

Soviet space program The Soviet space program (russian: Космическая программа СССР, Kosmicheskaya programma SSSR) was the national space program of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), active from 1955 until the dissoluti ...

. Both '' Sputnik 1'', the first artificial satellite, and

Vostok 1 Vostok 1 (russian: link=no, Восток, ''East'' or ''Orient'' 1) was the first spaceflight of the Vostok programme and the first human orbital spaceflight in history. The Vostok 3KA space capsule was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on Apr ...

, the first human spaceflight, were launched from Baikonur. The launch pad used for both missions was renamed

, in honour of Soviet

cosmonaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as ''Yuriy'', ''Youri'', or ''Yury''. (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space. T ...

, pilot of Vostok 1 and first human in space. Under the current Russian management, Baikonur remains a busy spaceport, with numerous commercial, military and scientific missions being launched annually.

History

Soviet era

The Soviet government issued the decree for Scientific Research Test Range No. 5 (NIIP-5; russian: 5-й Научно-Исследовательский Испытательный Полигон, Pjáty Naúchno-Isslédovatel'skii Ispytátel'nyi Poligón) on 12 February 1955. It was actually founded on 2 June 1955, originally a test center for the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the R-7 Semyorka. NIIP-5 was soon expanded to include launch facilities for space flights. The site was selected by a commission led by General Vasily Voznyuk, influenced by

Sergey Korolyov Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (russian: Сергей Павлович Королёв, Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov, sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪtɕ kərɐˈlʲɵf, Ru-Sergei Pavlovich Korolev.ogg; ukr, Сергій Павлович Корольов, ...

, the Chief Designer of the R-7 ICBM, and soon the man behind the Soviet space program. It had to be surrounded by plains, as the radio control system of the rocket required (at the time) receiving uninterrupted signals from ground stations hundreds of kilometres away. Additionally, the missile trajectory had to be away from populated areas. Also, it is advantageous to place space launch sites closer to the equator, as the surface of the Earth has higher rotational speed in such areas. Taking these constraints into consideration, the commission chose Tyuratam, a village in the heart of the Kazakh Steppe. The expense of constructing the launch facilities and the several hundred kilometres of new road and train lines made the Cosmodrome one of the most costly infrastructure projects undertaken by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. A supporting town was built around the facility to provide housing, schools, and infrastructure for workers. It was raised to city status in 1966 and named Leninsk (russian: Ленинск). The American U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance plane found and photographed the Tyuratam missile test range for the first time on 5 August 1957.

Name

There are conflicting sources about origins of the name ''Baikonur''. Some sources say that the name was deliberately chosen in 1961 (around the time of Gagarin's flight) to misdirect the

Western Bloc The Western Bloc, also known as the Free Bloc, the Capitalist Bloc, the American Bloc, and the NATO Bloc, was a coalition of countries that were officially allied with the United States during the Cold War of 1947–1991. It was spearheaded by ...

to a place about northeast of the launch center, the small mining town of Baikonur near

Jezkazgan Jezkazgan, or Zhezkazgan ( kk, Жезқазған, translit=Jezqazğan ), formerly known as Dzhezkazgan (russian: Джезказган) until 1992, is a city and the administrative centre of Ulytau Region, Kazakhstan, on a reservoir of the Kara ...

. Other sources state that ''Baikonur'' was the name of the

region before the establishment of the cosmodrome. Leninsk, the

closed city A closed city or closed town is a settlement where travel or residency restrictions are applied so that specific authorization is required to visit or remain overnight. Such places may be sensitive military establishments or secret research ins ...

built to support the cosmodrome, was renamed Baikonur on 20 December 1995 by

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...

Environmental impact

Russian scientist

Afanasiy Ilich Tobonov Afanasiy Ilich Tobonov (Афанасий Ильич Тобонов) (May 11, 1945 - August 28, 2009) was a Russian veterinarian who established that fuel from stages ejected from rockets launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome was the cause of deat ...

researched mass animal deaths in the 1990s and concluded that the mass deaths of birds and wildlife in the Sakha Republic were noted only along the flight paths of space rockets launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome. Dead wildlife and livestock were usually incinerated, and the participants in these incinerations, including Tobonov himself, his brothers and inhabitants of his native village of Eliptyan, commonly died from stroke or cancer. In 1997, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation changed the flight path and removed the ejected rocket stages near Nyurbinsky District, Russia. Scientific literature collected data that indicated adverse effects of rockets on the environment and the health of the population.

UDMH Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH; 1,1-dimethylhydrazine, НДМГ or codenamed Geptil) is a chemical compound with the formula H2NN(CH3)2 that is used as a rocket propellant. It is a colorless liquid, with a sharp, fishy, ammonia-like smell ...

, a fuel used in Russian rocket engines, is highly toxic. It is one of the reasons for acid rains and cancers in the local population, near the cosmodrome. Valery Yakovlev, a head of the laboratory of ecosystem research of the State scientific-production union of applied ecology "Kazmechanobr", notes: "Scientists have established the extreme character of the destructive influence of the "Baikonur" space center on environment and population of the region: 11 000 tons of space scrap metal, polluted by especially toxic UDMH is still laying on the falling grounds". Scrap recovery is part of the local economy.

Importance

Many historic flights lifted off from Baikonur: the first operational ICBM; the first man-made satellite, Sputnik 1, on 4 October 1957; the first spacecraft to travel close to the Moon,

Luna 1 ''Luna 1'', also known as ''Mechta'' (russian: Мечта , '' lit.'': ''Dream''), ''E-1 No.4'' and ''First Lunar Rover'', was the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of Earth's Moon, and the first spacecraft to be placed in heliocentric or ...

, on 2 January 1959; the first crewed and orbital flight by

on 12 April 1961; and the flight of the first woman in space,

Valentina Tereshkova Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova ( rus, Валентина Владимировна Терешкова, links=no, p=vɐlʲɪnʲˈtʲinə vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvnə tʲɪrʲɪʂˈkovə, a=Valentina Tereshkova.ogg; born 6 March 1937) is an engine ...

, in 1963. 14 cosmonauts of 13 other nations, such as

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, started their journeys from here as well under the

Interkosmos Interkosmos (russian: Интеркосмос) was a Soviet space program, designed to help the Soviet Union's allies with crewed and uncrewed space missions. The program was formed in April 1967 in Moscow. All members of the program from USSR ...

program. In 1960, a prototype R-16 ICBM exploded before launch, killing over 100 people. Baikonur is also the site from which

Venera 9 Venera 9 (russian: Венера-9, lit=Venus-9), manufacturer's designation: 4V-1 No. 660, was a Soviet uncrewed space mission to Venus. It consisted of an orbiter and a lander. It was launched on June 8, 1975, at 02:38:00 UTC and had a m ...

and

Mars 3 Mars 3 was a robotic space probe of the Soviet Mars program, launched May 28, 1971, nine days after its twin spacecraft Mars 2. The probes were identical robotic spacecraft launched by Proton-K rockets with a Blok D upper stage, each consist ...

were launched.

Russian era

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russian space program continued to operate from Baikonur under the auspices of the

Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an area of and has an estimated population of 239,796,010. ...

. Russia wanted to sign a 99-year lease for Baikonur, but agreed to a US$115 million annual lease of the site for 20 years with an option for a 10-year extension. On 8 June 2005, the Russian Federation Council ratified an agreement between

and

extending Russia's rent term of the spaceport until 2050. The rent price—which remained fixed at per year – is the source of a long-running dispute between the two countries. In an attempt to reduce its dependency on Baikonur, Russia is constructing the

Vostochny Cosmodrome The Vostochny Cosmodrome (russian: Космодром Восточный, ''Kosmodrom Vostochny'', "Eastern Spaceport") is a Russian spaceport (still partly under construction) above the 51st parallel north in the Amur Oblast, in the Russian ...

Amur Oblast Amur Oblast ( rus, Аму́рская о́бласть, r=Amurskaya oblast, p=ɐˈmurskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located on the banks of the Amur and Zeya Rivers in the Russian Far East. The administrat ...

. Baikonur has been a major part of Russia's contribution to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ( ...

(ISS), as it is the only spaceport from which Russian missions to the ISS are launched. It is primarily the border's position (but to a lesser extent Baikonur's position at about the 46th parallel north) that led to the 51.6° orbital inclination of the ISS; the lowest inclination that can be reached by Soyuz boosters launched from Baikonur without flying over China. With the conclusion of NASA's

Space Shuttle program The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. I ...

in 2011, Baikonur became the sole launch site used for crewed missions to the ISS until the launch of

Crew Dragon Demo-2 Crew Dragon Demo-2 (officially Crew Demo-2, SpaceX Demo-2, or Demonstration Mission-2) was the first crewed test flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft. The spacecraft, named '' Endeavour'', launched on 30 May 2020 on a Falcon 9 booster, and ca ...

in 2020. In 2019,

hosted three crewed launches, in March, July and September, before being modernised for the new

Soyuz-2 Soyuz-2 ( GRAU index 14A14) is a modernized version of the Soviet Soyuz rocket. In its basic form, it is a three-stage launch vehicle for placing payloads into low Earth orbit. Compared to the previous versions of the Soyuz, the first-stage ...

rocket with a planned first launch of 2023. The final launch from Gagarin's Start took place 25 September 2019.

Features

Baikonur is fully equipped with facilities for launching both crewed and uncrewed

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, p ...

. It supports several generations of

n spacecraft:

, Proton, Tsyklon, Dnepr, Zenit and Buran. Downrange from the launchpad, spent launch equipment is dropped directly on the ground in the Russian far east where it is salvaged by the workers and the local population.

List of launchpads

* Pad 1/5 (Gagarin's Start):

, Soyuz-

Progress Progress is the movement towards a refined, improved, or otherwise desired state. In the context of progressivism, it refers to the proposition that advancements in technology, science, and social organization have resulted, and by extension w ...

, Soyuz- Ikar – * Pad 31/6: Soyuz- Kosmos, Soyuz-Fregat – * Pad 41/3: R-16 (Destroyed in 1960 explosion) – * Pad 41/4 : R-16 (1961–67) – * Pad 41/15: R-16,

Kosmos 3 Kosmos 3 (russian: Космос 3 meaning ''Cosmos 3''), also known as 2MS No.1 and occasionally in the West as Sputnik 13 was a scientific research and technology demonstration satellite launched by the Soviet Union in 1962. Spacecraft It was ...

(1963–68) – * Pad 45/1:

Zenit-2 The Zenit-2 is a Ukrainian, previously Soviet, expendable carrier rocket. First flown in 1985, it has been launched 37 times, with 6 failures. It is a member of the Zenit family of rockets and was designed by the Yuzhmash. History With 13– ...

Zenit-2M The Zenit-2M, Zenit-2SB, Zenit-2SLB or Zenit-2FG was a Ukrainian expendable carrier rocket derived from the Zenit-3SL. It was a member of the Zenit family of rockets, which were designed by the Yuzhmash. Development The Zenit 2M was a modern ...

, Zenit-3M – * Pad 45/2 (Destroyed in 1990 explosion): Zenit 2 – * Pad 51: R-9 (1961–62) – * Pad 60/6: R-16 (1963–66) — * Pad 60/7: R-16 (1963–67) — * Pad 60/8: R-16 (1962–66) — * Pad 67/21: Tsyklon,

R-36M The R-36 (russian: Р-36) is a family of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and space launch vehicles (Tsyklon) designed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The original R-36 was deployed under the GRAU index 8K67 and was given the ...

, R-36O,

MR-UR-100 Sotka The MR-UR-100 Sotka was a MIRV-warhead intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed and deployed by the Soviet Union from 1978 to 1993. The missile was given the NATO reporting name SS-17 Spanker and was built under the Soviet industry desig ...

(1963–72) – * Pad 67/22: Tsyklon, R-36, R-36O (1964–66) — * Pad 69:

Tsyklon-2 The Tsyklon-2 (Cyclone-2), also known as Tsiklon-2 and Tsyklon-M (known as SL-11 by the United States DoD), GRAU index 11K69, was a Soviet, later Ukrainian, orbital carrier rocket used from the 1960s to the late 2000s. The rocket had 106 launch ...

* Pad 70 (Destroyed in 1963 explosion): R-9 – * Pad 75: R-9 — * Pad 80/17: Tsyklon (1965) — * Pad 81/23 (81L) (inactive >2004):

Proton-K The Proton-K, also designated Proton 8K82K after its GRAU index or SL-12 after its model number, 8K82K, was a Russian, previously Soviet, carrier rocket derived from the earlier Proton. It was built by Khrunichev, and launched from sites 81 an ...

– * Pad 81/24 (81P):

Proton-M The Proton-M, (Протон-М) GRAU index 8K82M or , is an expendable Russian heavy-lift launch vehicle derived from the Soviet-developed Proton. It is built by Khrunichev, and launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Ka ...

– * Pad 90/19 (90L) (Inactive >1997):

UR-200 The UR-200 was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed by Vladimir Chelomey's OKB-52 in the Soviet Union. It was known during the Cold War by the NATO reporting name SS-10 '' Scrag'' and internally by the GRAU index 8K81. The d ...

– * Pad 90/20 (90R): UR-200, Tsyklon-2 – * Pad 101: R-36M (1973–76) — * Pad 102: R-36M (1978) — * Pad 103: R-36M (1973–77) — * Pad 104: R-36M (1972–74) — * Pad 105: R-36M (1974–77) — * Pad 106: R-36M (1974–83) — * Pad 107: R-36 — * Pad 108: R-36 — * Pad 109/95: Dnepr – * Pad 110/37 (110L) (inactive >1988): N-1, Energia- Buran – * Pad 110/38 (110R) (inactive >1969): N-1 – * Pad 130:

UR-100 The UR-100 (russian: УР-100) was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed and deployed by the Soviet Union from 1966 to 1996. UR () in its designation stood for Universal Rocket (russian: links=no, Универсальная Р� ...

(1965) – * Pad 131: UR-100N, UR-100, Rokot (1965–90) — * Pad 132: UR-100NU (2001–02) — * Pad 140/18: R-36 (1965–78) — * Pad 141: R-36 — * Pad 142/34: R-36 (three silo complex) — * Pad 160: R-36O — * Pad 161/35: Tsyklon (1967–73) — * Pad 162/36: Tsyklon (1966–75) — * Pad 163: R-36O — * Pad 164: R-36O — * Pad 165: R-36O — * Pad 170: UR-MR-100 (1976–79) — * Pad 171: UR-100, UR-100N — * Pad 172: UR-MR-100 (1978–81) — * Pad 173: UR-MR-100 (1972–78) — * Pad 174: UR-100, UR-100K — * Pad 175/2: UR-100NU,

Rokot Rokot (russian: Рокот meaning ''Rumble'' or ''Boom''), also transliterated Rockot, was a Russian space launch vehicle that was capable of launching a payload of into a Earth orbit with 63° inclination. It was based on the UR-100N (SS- ...

, Strela – * Pad 175/59: Rokot (1994) — * Pad 176: UR-100 — * Pad 177: UR-MR-100, UR-MR-100U (1973–78) — * Pad 178: UR-100 — * Pad 179: UR-100 — * Pad 181: UR-MR-100U (1978–79) — * Pad 191/66: R-36O (1969–71) — * Pad 192: R-36O — * Pad 193: R-36O — * Pad 194: R-36O — * Pad 195: R-36O — * Pad 196: R-36O — * Pad 200/39 (200L): Proton-M/Proton-K – * Pad 200/40 (200R): Proton-K (inactive >1991) – * Pad 241: R-36O — * Pad 242: R-36O — * Pad 243: R-36O — * Pad 244: R-36O — * Pad 245: R-36O — * Pad 246: R-36O — * Pad 250 (inactive >1987): Energia –

Buran facilities

As part of the

Buran programme The ''Buran'' program (russian: Буран, , "Snowstorm", "Blizzard"), also known as the "VKK Space Orbiter program" (russian: ВКК «Воздушно-Космический Корабль», lit=Air and Space Ship), was a Soviet and later R ...

, several facilities were adapted or newly built for the Buran-class space shuttle orbiters: * Site 110 – Used for the launch of the Buran-class orbiters. Like the assembly and processing hall at Site 112, the launch complex was originally constructed for the Soviet lunar landing program and later converted for the Energia-Buran program. * Site 112 – Used for orbiter maintenance and to mate the orbiters to their Energia launchers (thus fulfilling a role similar to the VAB at KSC). The main hangar at the site, called MIK RN or MIK 112, was originally built for the assembly of the N1 moon rocket. After cancellation of the N-1 program in 1974, the facilities at Site 112 were converted for the Energia-Buran program. It was here that Orbiter K1 was stored after the end of the Buran program and was destroyed when the hangar roof collapsed in 2002. * Site 251 – Used as Buran orbiter landing facility, also known as Yubileyniy Airfield (and fulfilling a role similar to the SLF at KSC). It features one runway, called 06/24, which is long and wide, paved with "Grade 600" high quality reinforced concrete. At the edge of the runway was a special mating–demating device, designed to lift an orbiter off its

Antonov An-225 Mriya The Antonov An-225 Mriya ( uk, Антонов Ан-225 Мрія, lit=dream' or 'inspiration; NATO reporting name: Cossack) was a strategic airlift cargo aircraft designed and produced by the Antonov Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. It was o ...

carrier aircraft and load it on a transporter, which would carry the orbiter to the processing building at Site 254. A purpose-built orbiter landing control facility, housed in a large multi-store office building, was located near the runway. Yubileyniy Airfield was also used to receive heavy transport planes carrying elements of the Energia-Buran system. After the end of the Buran program, Site 251 was abandoned but later reopened as a commercial cargo airport. Besides serving Baikonur, Kazakh authorities also use it for passenger and charter flights from Russia. * Site 254 – Built to service the Buran-class orbiters between flights (thus fulfilling a role similar to the OPF at KSC). Constructed in the 1980s as a special four-bay building, it also featured a large processing area flanked by several floors of test rooms. After cancellation of the Buran program it was adapted for pre-launch operations of the

and

spacecraft.

Baikonur Railway

Soyuz TMA-16 launch vehicle being transported to pad

All Baikonur's

logistics Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...

are based on its own intra-site gauge

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

network, which is the largest

industrial railway An industrial railway is a type of railway (usually private) that is not available for public transportation and is used exclusively to serve a particular industrial, logistics, or military site. In regions of the world influenced by British ra ...

on the planet. The railway is used for all stages of launch preparation, and all spacecraft are transported to the launchpads by the special

Schnabel car A Schnabel car or Schnabel wagon is a specialized type of railroad freight car. It is designed to carry heavy and oversized loads in such a way that the load makes up part of the car. The load is suspended between the two ends of the cars by lif ...

s. Once part of the Soviet Railroad Troops, the Baikonur Railway is now served by a dedicated civilian state company. There are several rail links connecting the Baikonur Railway to the public railway of Kazakhstan and the rest of the world.

Baikonur airports

The Baikonur Cosmodrome has two on-site multi-purpose

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

s, serving both the personnel transportation needs and the logistics of space launches (including the delivery of the spacecraft by planes). There are scheduled passenger services from

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

to the smaller Krayniy Airport , which however are not accessible to the public. The larger

Yubileyniy Airport Yubileyniy is an airport in Kyzylorda Oblast, Kazakhstan. It is part of the Baikonur cosmodrome. It sits 40 km north-north-west of Baikonur (at the site of 251 cosmodrome Baikonur) in the desert region of Ushkyzyl. The airport is leased ...

(Юбилейный аэропорт) was where the Buran orbiter was transported to Baikonur on the back of the Antonov An-225 ''Mriya'' cargo aircraft.

ICBM testing

Although Baikonur has always been known around the world as the launch site of Soviet and Russian space missions, from its outset in 1955 and until the collapse of the USSR in 1991 the primary purpose of this center was to test liquid-fueled ballistic missiles. The official (and secret) name of the center was State Test Range No. 5 or 5 GIK. It remained under the control of the Soviet and

Russian Ministry of Defense The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (russian: Министерство обороны Российской Федерации, Минобороны России, informally abbreviated as МО, МО РФ or Minoboron) is the govern ...

until the second half of the 1990s, when the Russian civilian space agency and its industrial contractors started taking over individual facilities. In 2006, the head of Roscosmos, Anatoly Perminov, said that the last Russian military personnel would be removed from the Baikonur facility by 2007. However, on 22 October 2008, an SS-19 Stiletto missile was test-fired from Baikonur, indicating this may not be the case.

Future projects

On 22 December 2004, Kazakhstan and Russia signed a contract establishing the "Russia–Kazakhstan Baiterek JV" joint venture, in which each country holds a 50% stake. The goal of the project is the construction of the

Bayterek russian: Байтерек , former_names = , alternate_names = Bayterek , image = Central Downtown Astana 2.jpg , image_size = 256px , alt = , caption = Baiterek Tower , ma ...

(" poplar tree") space launch complex, to facilitate operations of the Russian Angara rocket launcher. This will allow launches with a payload of 26 tons to

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...

, compared to 20 tons using the Proton system. An additional benefit will be that the Angara uses kerosene as fuel and oxygen as the oxidiser, which is less hazardous to the environment than the toxic fuels used by older boosters. The total expenditure on the Kazakh side will be US$223 million over 19 years. As of 2010, the project was stalling due to insufficient funding. It was thought that the project still had good chances to succeed because it will allow both parties – Russia and Kazakhstan – to continue the joint use of Baikonur even after the

is commissioned. The first scheduled launch of the Baiterek Rocket and Space Complex is scheduled for 2025.

Baikonur Museum

Baikonur Cosmodrome has a small museum, next to two small cottages, once residences of the rocket engineer

Sergei Korolev Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (russian: Сергей Павлович Королёв, Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov, sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪtɕ kərɐˈlʲɵf, Ru-Sergei Pavlovich Korolev.ogg; ukr, Сергій Павлович Корольов, ...

and the first

. Both cottages are part of the museum complex and have been preserved. The museum is home to a collection of space artifacts. A restored test artifact from the Soviet

sits next to the museum entrance. The vehicle that flew a single orbital test mission in 1988 was destroyed in a hangar collapse in 2002; For a complete list of Buran artifacts, see

Buran (spacecraft) ''Buran'' (russian: Буран, , meaning "Snowstorm" or "Blizzard"; GRAU index serial number: 11F35 1K, construction number: 1.01) was the first spaceplane to be produced as part of the Soviet/Russian Buran program. Besides describing the fir ...

. The museum also houses photographs related to the cosmodrome's history, including images of all cosmonauts. Every crew of every expedition launched from Baikonur leaves behind a signed crew photograph that is displayed behind the glass. Baikonur's museum holds many objects related to Gagarin, including the ground control panel from his flight, his uniforms, and soil from his landing site, preserved in a silver container. One of the museum rooms also holds an older version of the Soyuz descent capsule. In 2021, the Baikonur space complex was named as one of the top 10 tourist destinations in Kazakhstan.

References

External links

* Baikonur Cosmodrom
historical note (in Russian) and historical pictures (2002)
o
buran.ru
–

NPO Molniya NPO Molniya (''lightning'') (russian: Научно-производственное объединение «Молния») is a Russian scientific and production enterprise, founded on February 26, 1976. Currently part of Rostec Rostec ( rus ...

, maker of Russian space shuttle Buran.
RussianSpaceWeb.com on Baikonur

360° interactive panoramas
of Baikonur Cosmodrome
Baikonur: the town, the cosmodrome, the MetOp-A launch campaign

"World's Oldest Space Launch Facility: The Baikonur Cosmodrome."
''Sometimes Interesting''. 26 May 2014

// RussianSpaceWeb.com
The official website of the city administration Baikonur
// Baikonur commemorated a test rocket and space technology.
The Russian Union Of Veterans
// Day of memory and grief. {{authority control Infrastructure completed in 1955 Spaceports Transport buildings and structures in Kazakhstan Kazakhstan–Russia relations Space program of Kazakhstan Rocket launch sites Soviet and Russian space program locations Buildings and structures built in the Soviet Union Baikonur 1955 establishments in the Soviet Union