Norak (, ''Norak'') is a city in the

Khatlon Region Khatlon Region (), one of the four provinces of Tajikistan, is the most populous of the four first-level administrative regions in the country. It is situated in the southwest of the country, between the Hisor Range, Hisor (Gissar) Range in the n ...

Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...

. It is situated on the river Vakhsh, 885 m above sea level, and is 70 km southeast of

Dushanbe Dushanbe is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Tajikistan. , Dushanbe had a population of 1,564,700, with this population being largely Tajiks, Tajik. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe, and from 1929 to 1961 as St ...

, the capital. Its population is estimated at 31,400 for the city proper and 61,500 for the city with the outlying communities (2020). The city was founded in 1960 alongside the construction of Nurek Dam, which was completed in 1980. The city also has a military area housing personnel working at the nearby optical satellite tracking facility, the

Okno Okno ( meaning window) is a Russian space surveillance station located in Nurak in Tajikistan. It is run by the Russian Space Forces and is part of the Centre for Outer Space Monitoring. It is located above sea level in the Sanglok mountains, ...

("Window") complex.https://fas.org/spp/military/program/track/okno.pdf Sourcebook on the Okno and Krona Space Surveillance Systems

Subdivisions

Before ca. 2018, Norak was the seat of Norak District, which covered the rural part of the present city of Norak. The city of Norak covers Norak proper and two jamoats. These are as follows:Jamoat-level basic indicators
United Nations Development Programme in Tajikistan, accessed 8 October 2020

Notable people

* Rustam Abdulov (born 1973), former footballer

References

Populated places in Khatlon Region {{Khatlon-geo-stub