Baikonur Cosmodrome

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Baikonur Cosmodrome

Baiqoñyr ğaryş ailağy (Kazakh)
Космодром Байконур (Russian)
Baikonur Cosmodrome Soyuz launch pad.jpg
The Cosmodrome's "Gagarin's Start" launchpad on 10 October 2008, prior to the rollout of Soyuz TMA-13.
Summary
Airport type Spaceport
Owner/Operator
Location Baikonur, Kazakhstan (leased to Flag of Russia.svg  Russia)
Built1955;69 years ago (1955)
Time zone AQTT (UTC+05:00)
Elevation  AMSL 90 m / 295 ft
Coordinates 45°57′54″N63°18′18″E / 45.965°N 63.305°E / 45.965; 63.305
Website baikonurtour.com
Map
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Baikonur Cosmodrome
Location in Kazakhstan
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Baikonur Cosmodrome
Location relative to Russia (leased until 2050)
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Baikonur Cosmodrome
Location in the former Soviet Union
Baikonur Cosmodrome
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The Baikonur Cosmodrome [a] is a spaceport operated by Russia within Kazakhstan. Located in the Kazakh city of Baikonur, it is the largest operational space launch facility in terms of area. [1] All Russian crewed spaceflights are launched from Baikonur. [2]

Contents

Situated in the Kazakh Steppe, some 90 metres (300 ft) above sea level, it is 200 kilometres (120 mi) to the east of the Aral Sea and north of the Syr Darya. It is close to Töretam, a station on the Trans-Aral Railway. Russia, as the official successor state to the Soviet Union, has retained control over the facility since 1991; it originally assumed this role through the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), but ratified an agreement with Kazakhstan in 2005 that allowed it to lease the spaceport until 2050. It is jointly managed by Roscosmos and the Russian Aerospace Forces.[ citation needed ]

In 1955, the Soviet Ministry of Defence issued a decree and founded the Baikonur Cosmodrome. [3] It was originally built as the chief base of operations for the Soviet space program. The Cosmodrome served as the launching point for Sputnik 1 and Vostok 1. The launchpad used for both missions was renamed "Gagarin's Start" in honour of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who piloted Vostok 1 and became the first human in outer space. [4] Under the current Russian management, Baikonur remains a busy spaceport, with numerous commercial, military, and scientific missions being launched annually. [5] [6] [7]

History

Soviet era

A U-2 spy plane photograph of R-7 launch pad in Tyuratam, taken on 5 August 1957. Baikonur CIA U-2.gif
A U-2 spy plane photograph of R-7 launch pad in Tyuratam, taken on 5 August 1957.

The Soviet government issued Scientific Research Test Range No. 5 (NIIP-5; Russian : 5-й Научно-Исследовательский Испытательный Полигон, Pyatyy Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy Ispytatel'nyy Poligon) 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), [8] 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, 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. [9] 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.[ citation needed ] 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. [10]

In April of 1975, in preparation for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the first NASA astronauts were allowed to tour the cosmodrome. Upon their return to the United States, the crews commented that on their evening flight to Moscow they had seen lights on launch pads and related complexes for more than 15 minutes, and according to astronaut Thomas Stafford, "that makes Cape Kennedy look very small."

Name

According to most sources, the name Baikonur was deliberately chosen in 1961 (around the time of Gagarin's flight) to misdirect [9] [11] [12] the Western Bloc to a place about 320 kilometres (200 mi) northeast of the launch center, the small mining town and railway station of Baikonur near Jezkazgan. Leninsk, the closed city built to support the cosmodrome, was renamed Baikonur on 20 December 1995 by Boris Yeltsin.

According to NASA's history of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the name Baikonur was not chosen to misdirect, but was the name of the Tyuratam region before the establishment of the cosmodrome. [11]

One of the main gates at Baikonur Cosmodrome spaceport in Kazakhstan. BaikonurFrontGate.jpg
One of the main gates at Baikonur Cosmodrome spaceport in Kazakhstan.

Environmental impact

Russian scientist Afanasiy Ilich Tobonov 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. [13] 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.[ citation needed ]

Scientific literature collected data that indicated adverse effects of rockets on the environment and the health of the population. [14] UDMH, a fuel used in some 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". [15] Scrap recovery is part of the local economy. [16]

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, on 2 January 1959; the first crewed and orbital flight by Yuri Gagarin on 12 April 1961; and the flight of the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, in 1963. 14 cosmonauts of 13 other nations, including Czechoslovakia, East Germany, India and France have launched from Baikonur under the Interkosmos program as well. In 1960, a prototype R-16 ICBM exploded before launch, killing over 100 people. Baikonur is also the site from which Venera 9 and Mars 3 were launched.

Post-Soviet era

A Soyuz rocket is erected into position at the Baikonur Cosmodrome's Pad 1/5 (Gagarin's Start) on 24 March 2009. The rocket launched the crew of Expedition 19 and a spaceflight participant on 26 March 2009. Soyuz expedition 19 launch pad.jpg
A Soyuz rocket is erected into position at the Baikonur Cosmodrome's Pad 1/5 (Gagarin's Start) on 24 March 2009. The rocket launched the crew of Expedition 19 and a spaceflight participant on 26 March 2009.

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. 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. [18] On 8 June 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 remained fixed at US$115,000,000 per year –is the source of a long-running dispute between the two countries. [19] In an attempt to reduce its dependency on Baikonur, Russia built the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Amur Oblast. [20]

Baikonur has been a major part of Russia's contribution to the International Space Station (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. [21] With the conclusion of NASA's Space Shuttle program in 2011, Baikonur became the sole launch site used for crewed missions to the ISS [2] [22] until the launch of Crew Dragon Demo-2 in 2020.

In 2019, Gagarin's Start hosted three crewed launches, in March, July and September, before being shut down for modernisation for the new Soyuz-2 rocket with a planned first launch in 2023. [23] The final launch from Gagarin's Start took place 25 September 2019. Gagarin's Start failed to receive funding (in part due to Russian invasion of Ukraine) to modernize it for the slightly larger Soyuz-2 rocket. In 2023, it was announced that the Russian and Kazakhstan authorities plan to deactivate the site as a space launch pad and turn it into a museum (in part for tourism purposes). [24]

On 7 March 2023, the Kazakh government seized control of the Baiterek launch complex, one of the launch sites at Baikonur Cosmodrome, banning numerous Russian officials from leaving the country and preventing the liquidation of assets by Roscosmos. One of the reasons for the seizure was due to Russia failing to pay a $29.7 million debt to the Kazakh government. The seizure comes after Russia's relations with Kazakhstan became tense due to its ongoing invasion of Ukraine. [25] [26] [27]

Features

Baikonur is fully equipped with facilities for launching both crewed and uncrewed spacecraft. It has supported several generations of Russian spacecraft: Soyuz, 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. [28]

List of launchpads

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1/5
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Major launchpads at Baikonur Cosmodrome

Buran facilities

As part of the Buran programme, several facilities were adapted or newly built for the Buran-class space shuttle orbiters:

Intra-site railway

A Soyuz TMA-16 launch vehicle being transported to launchpad at Baikonur in 2009. Soyuz TMA-16 launch vehicle being transported to pad.jpg
A Soyuz TMA-16 launch vehicle being transported to launchpad at Baikonur in 2009.

All Baikonur's logistics are based on its own intra-site 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in) gauge railway network, which is the largest industrial railway 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 cars. 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.

On-site airports

The Baikonur Cosmodrome has two on-site multi-purpose airports, 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 to the smaller Krayniy Airport ( IATA : BXY, ICAO : UAOL), which however are not accessible to the public. The larger Yubileyniy Airport (Юбилейный аэропорт) ( IATA : UAON) 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 until the second half of the 1990s, when the Russian civilian space agency and its industrial contractors started taking over individual facilities.[ citation needed ]

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. [35]

Future projects

OK-MT (foreground) and OK-1.02 (background) in storage at Baikonur Cosmodrome in 2020. Izdelie 1.02 foto 4.jpg
OK-MT (foreground) and OK-1.02 (background) in storage at Baikonur Cosmodrome in 2020.

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 was the construction of the Bayterek ("poplar tree") space launch complex, to facilitate operations of the Russian Angara rocket launcher. [36] This was anticipated to allow launches with a payload of 26 tons to low Earth orbit, compared to 20 tons using the Proton system. An additional benefit would 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 was expected to be US$223 million over 19 years. [37] As of 2010, the project was stalling due to insufficient funding, but it was thought that the project still had good chances to succeed because it would allow both parties – Russia and Kazakhstan – to continue the joint use of Baikonur even after the construction of Vostochny Cosmodrome. [38] As of 2017, the first launch of the Baiterek Rocket and Space Complex was expected to occur in 2025. [39] [ needs update ]

Baikonur Museum

Buran test article OK-ML-1 at Baikonur Museum Buran baikonur.jpg
Buran test article OK-ML-1 at Baikonur Museum

The Baikonur Cosmodrome has a small museum, next to two small cottages, once residences of the rocket engineer Sergei Korolev and the first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin. Both cottages are part of the museum complex and have been preserved. The museum is home to a collection of space artefacts. A restored test article from the Soviet Buran programme sits next to the museum entrance. The only completed orbiter, which flew a single orbital test mission in 1988, was destroyed in a hangar collapse in 2002. [40] [41] [42] For a complete list of surviving Buran vehicles and artefacts, see Buran programme § List of vehicles.

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.

The Sputnik 1 satellite test model is shown at the Baikonur Cosmodrome Museum of Space History in Kazakhstan. SputnikTestModel.jpg
The Sputnik 1 satellite test model is shown at the Baikonur Cosmodrome Museum of Space History in Kazakhstan.

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. [43]

In 2023, a plan was announced to add the Gagarin's Start launch complex to the museum complex at Baikonur. [24]

The Baikonur Cosmodrome was heavily featured in the 2003 computer game Command & Conquer: Generals and in the expansion Zero Hour. The GLA captured the launch pad to launch an ICBM filled with bio-chemicals at an unspecified US naval base in Europe. The Americans retook it in Zero Hour.

The Baikonur Cosmodrome was featured prominently in the 2010 video game Call of Duty: Black Ops . In one mission in the campaign, the main character is tasked by John F. Kennedy with destroying a Soyuz spacecraft and eliminating several high-value targets at the launch complex. It was also featured in its Multiplayer Map "Launch", as well as the Zombies map "Ascension"

The Baikonur Cosmodrome also serves as the inspiration for a location in the 2014 videogame Destiny .

The Baikonur Cosmodrome and its surroundings serve as the setting of the 2022 French TV miniseries Infiniti.

The Baikonur Cosmodrome, the city of Baikonur, and the surrounding areas (including the Aral Sea) are featured heavily in Terry Hayes' 2023 spy/thriller novel The Year Of The Locust .

The Baikonur Cosmodrome appears as Russia's primary space facility in Tom Clancy's EndWar's Veterans Map Pack. [44]

See also

Related Research Articles

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The Buran programme, also known as the "VKK Space Orbiter programme", was a Soviet and later Russian reusable spacecraft project that began in 1974 at the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute in Moscow and was formally suspended in 1993. In addition to being the designation for the whole Soviet/Russian reusable spacecraft project, Buran was also the name given to orbiter 1K, which completed one uncrewed spaceflight in 1988 and was the only Soviet reusable spacecraft to be launched into space. The Buran-class orbiters used the expendable Energia rocket as a launch vehicle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spaceport</span> Location used to launch and receive spacecraft

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 of launching spacecraft into orbit around Earth or on interplanetary trajectories. However, rocket launch sites for purely sub-orbital flights are sometimes called spaceports, as in recent years new and proposed sites for suborbital human flights have been frequently referred to or named "spaceports". Space stations and proposed future bases on the Moon are sometimes called spaceports, in particular if intended as a base for further journeys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baikonur</span> City in Kazakhstan with a Russian spaceport

Baikonur, formerly known as Leninsk, is a city in Kazakhstan on the northern bank of the Syr Darya river. It is currently leased and administered by the Russian Federation as an enclave until 2050. It was constructed to service the Baikonur Cosmodrome and was officially renamed Baikonur by Russian president Boris Yeltsin on December 20, 1995. During the Soviet period, it was sometimes referred to as Zvezdograd (Звездоград), Russian for Star City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plesetsk Cosmodrome</span> Spaceport in Mirny, Arkhangelsk Oblast, northwestern Russia

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Töretam</span> Station on the Moscow to Tashkent railway in Kazakhstan

Töretam 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 formally, Töre-Baba, was a nobleman and descendant of Genghis Khan. Töretam is near the Baikonur Cosmodrome, a Russian – formerly Soviet – spaceport, and near the city of Baikonur, which was constructed to service the cosmodrome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zenit (rocket family)</span> Soviet (now Ukrainian) RP-1/LOX fueled rocket, for satellite launch

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gagarin's Start</span> Launch site at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vostochny Cosmodrome</span> Spaceport in Amur Oblast, Russia

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soyuz TMA-19</span> 2010 Russian crewed spaceflight to the ISS

Soyuz TMA-19 was a crewed spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS) and is part of the Soyuz programme. It was launched on 15 June 2010 carrying three members of the Expedition 24 crew to the International Space Station, who remained aboard the station for around six months. Soyuz TMA-19 was the 106th crewed flight of a Soyuz spacecraft, since the first mission which was launched in 1967. The spacecraft remained docked to the space station for the remainder of Expedition 24, and for Expedition 25, to serve as an emergency escape vehicle. It undocked from ISS and landed in Kazakhstan on 26 November 2010. It was the 100th mission to be conducted as part of the International Space Station programme since assembly began in 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 45</span>

Site 45 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome used to be a Zenit rocket launch site consisting of two pads, both of which are currently inactive. It used to be the launch site for all Soviet and Russian government Zenit launches, along with a commercial launch conducted for Globalstar in 1998, and continuing commercial launches under the Land Launch programme. The main pad at the site is area 45/1, which was completed in 1983 following five years of construction. A second pad, area 45/2, was completed in 1990, but was destroyed by a launch failure in the same year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soyuz TMA-21</span> 2011 Russian crewed spaceflight to the ISS

Soyuz TMA-21 ("Gagarin") was a Soyuz flight to the International Space Station (ISS). It transported three members of the Expedition 27 crew to the ISS, and docked at the station on April 6, 2011. TMA-21 is the 109th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft, the first of which launched in 1967. The Soyuz remained attached to the space station as a lifeboat, throughout the remainder of Expedition 27 and through the end of Expedition 28, and returned to Earth on September 16, 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soyuz-2-1v</span> Russian expendable carrier rocket

The Soyuz 2.1v, GRAU index 14A15, known early in development as the Soyuz 1, is a expendable Russian medium-lift launch vehicle. It is derivative of the Soyuz 2 but utilizing a single core stage built around the powerful NK-33 engine, 50-year-old refurbished remnants from the Soviet N1 moon rocket. It is a member of the R-7 family of rockets built by Progress in Samara. Launches have been conducted from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northwest Russia, and are expected to be conducted in the future from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in eastern Russia, and the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 110</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irtysh (rocket)</span> Russian rocket, in development

Irtysh, also named Soyuz-5, formerly codenamed Fenix in Russian and Sunkar in Kazakh, is a planned Russian rocket that is being developed by JSC SRC Progress within the "Project Feniks". Initially it will replace the capability of Zenit-2 and Proton Medium, and in the future will serve as the base of a super heavy-lift launch vehicle rocket (Yenisei) to match the Energia/Buran capabilities. As of August 2023, Irtysh is expected to launch from the Baikonur Baiterek, the ex Zenit-2 launch site, in a partnership with the government of Kazakhstan, with a planned debut in December 2025.

The space program of Kazakhstan is originated from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, when Kazakhstan declared their independence. The Kazakh space program consist of cosmonaut and satellite missions. The only launch site situated at Kazakhstan is Baikonur Cosmodrome, which is leased to Russia. The program is led by KazCosmos since 2007.

References

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  4. ↑ "Yuri Gagarin: First Man in Space". Space.com. 13 October 2018. Archived from the original on 20 December 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
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  6. ↑ "Baikonur Cosmodrome". International Launch Services. Archived from the original on 31 January 2011. Retrieved 6 April 2011.
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  10. ↑ Gruntman, Mike (1 February 2019). "From Tyuratam Missile Range to Baikonur Cosmodrome". Acta Astronautica. 155. Fig.7: 350–366. Bibcode:2019AcAau.155..350G. doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2018.12.021. ISSN   0094-5765. S2CID   116406451. Archived from the original on 18 October 2021. Retrieved 22 February 2020.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
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  1. ↑

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