Baikanur space launch site

Baikanur is the largest and oldest lunch facility in the world. Founded on June 2, 1955 and covering an area of 12,200 sq km/4,700 sq mi, it was built by the former Soviet Union in what is now known Kazakhstan. Originally known as Tyuratam it was built as long-range-missile center and later expanded to include launch facilities for space flight.
When founded in 1955, the Cosmodrom was dubbed “Baikanur” is a mining town about 320 km northeast of the space center. A supporting town was built around the facility to provide housing, scools and support infrastructure wor workers. It was raised to city status in 1966 and named Leninsk. In 1995 then- Presient Boris Yeltsin renamed the city to Baikanur.
In seach for the Soviet ICBM test site, the US intelligence employed its most sophisticated weapon of the time by the U-2 high-altitude spy plane. Unreachable for the Soviet interceptors, the U-2s were flying along major railroads of the Soviet Union trying to pinpoint the new test site. In the summer of 1957, only weeks after the first test flight of the Soviet ICBM, U-2 mission brought its fruit – the pictures of the R-7 launch pad in Tyaratam. Yet, for decades to come the Soviet government would not confirm the exact location of the test range.
Many historic flights lifted off from Baikanur: the first operational ICBM; Sputnik I, on October 4, 1957; the first manned orbital flight by Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 1961; and the flight of the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, in 1963. 14 cosmonauts of 13 other nations, such as Czechoslovaka, East Germany and France, started their historical journey from here as we from here as well under Interkosmos program.
The April 12 flight of the Vostok spacecraft with Major Yuri Gagarin onboard took off from Padm I, opening the era of manned space flight.
Along with the enormous propaganda victory, Gagarin’s mission brought a headache to Kremlin leaders. In order to register Vostok’s flight as a world record with the International Aviation Federation, the USSR was required to name the launch site. Despite earlier U-2 flights over Tyaratam, identifying it as a top-secret defense facility was out of the question.
The official policy developed over the years by the Soviet ideologists was not to confirm any unwelcome information of the Soviet affairs, no matter how widely known and well proven, if this information originated in the West. Instead, in the official telegram to the Federation, Aviation Sport Commission of the Central Aero-club of the USSR claimed that Vostok wa launched from the “Cosmodrome” located near Baikanur. So, it was registered on July 18, 1961.
Following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 the Russian space program continued to operate from Baikanur under the auspices of the Commonwealth of Independent States. On June 8, 2005 the Russian Federation Council ratified an agreement between Russia and Kazakhstan extending Russia’s rent term of the spaceport until 2050. The rent price – which as fixed at 115 million dollars per year – is the sourse of a long-running dispute between the two countries.
Baikanur is fully equipped with facilities for launching both manned and unmanned space vehicles. It supports several generations of Russian spacecraft: Soyuz,Proton, Tsyklon, Dnepr, Zenit and Buran. During the temporary lapse of the United States’ Space Shuttle program after the Columbia Disaster in 2003 it played an essential role in operating and resupplying of the International Space Station with Soyuz and Progress spacecraft.
Unlike many space launch facilities in the world, both Baikanur is not directly situated on or near a coast. Consequently, the lower, sub-orbital stages of USSR/CIS boosters normally fall back on former Soviet territory. This situation limits the permissible launch azimuths to avoid impacts near populated or foreign regions, e.g., due east launches (the most advantageous) from Baikanur are forbidden since lower rocked stages would fall on Chinese territory. For those launch corridors which are used, tens of thousands of tons of spent boosters, many with toxic residual propellants still on board, now litter the countryside. Steps are underway around Baikanur to mitigate the situation, but the problem remains monumental.
Today it is not easy to visit Baikanur as a tourist although it is possible through local travel agencies.