Baikonur is the first and largest cosmodrome in the world. This place captures the imagination of everyone fascinated by vast distances and monumental structures. So, what lies hidden behind the walls of the cosmodrome?
Birth of a Cosmonautics Legend
In official documents, the cosmodrome’s birthday is June 2, 1955. That was the day the first and most important spaceport of the USSR entered service. It occupies an area of 6,717 km² near the village of Toretam. In total, the complex comprises an extensive infrastructure that includes 15 launch complexes of nine types for launching space rockets and four launchers for testing intercontinental ballistic missiles, as well as various facilities for different kinds of work. It is worth noting that after the collapse of the USSR the complex became a leased site, and the Russian Federation now pays Kazakhstan about 9 billion a year for it. Baikonur still leads the world in the number of launches per year, which shows that the legendary cosmodrome not only remains in operation but has never lost its status.
The site was not chosen at random. Baikonur lies near one of the largest Central Asian rivers, the Syr Darya, and close to the important Moscow-Tashkent railway artery. Another advantage is its relative proximity to the equator.
In the 1960s a major accident occurred here, but it had virtually no effect on the cosmodrome’s performance. Over the entire span of its existence, more than 1,500 spacecraft, more than 100 intercontinental ballistic missiles, and more than 80 types of spacecraft and their variants have been launched. It is hard to imagine how complex the work of the cosmodrome’s staff must be.
The “Energy-Buran” Space Program
The program called “Energy-Buran” was a space program for a reusable transport space system. Its foundations were laid back in 1975, and only two programs of this type have ever been implemented in the world. Work on the “Energy-Buran” system involved 70 ministries and departments and 1,286 enterprises, employing more than a million people. Over 18 years of development, the budget exceeded 16 billion rubles. “Buran” made its first and only space flight on November 15, 1988, aboard the “Energy” carrier rocket.
The rocket’s flight was remarkable for its precision. Just imagine: the rocket travels at almost 28,000 km/h, circles the Earth twice, and then returns to its starting point with a margin of error of only 1.5 meters. And that is not all, because the entire flight takes place on autopilot. This flight was even entered into the Guinness Book of Records!
Behind the Walls of the Cosmodrome
Stalkers do not give Baikonur a wide berth, even though getting there is, to put it mildly, very difficult. By direct road, the cosmodrome lies almost 400 kilometers from Moscow. There is also an air link, but it is available only to a select few, or rather, to the site’s staff. As for the railway connection, it solves only part of the problem and can hardly be described as an optimal route.
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In total, there are 92 buildings on the territory of Baikonur, each with its own purpose, degree of protection and importance. The buildings are mostly the same height, although there is a workshop 2.5 km from the “Gagarinsky Start” launch site that stands 15 meters tall.
Interesting fact: Baikonur has a fake wooden twin. Its construction lasted about as long as that of the main site, and its purpose was to deceive potential enemies. The wooden “cosmodrome” was taken for the real Baikonur until the launch of “Vostok-1” with Gagarin on board. Besides its various research buildings, Baikonur has its own capital, the city of Baikonur, which was once called Leninsk. This is where the testers and their families live.
Since 2013, a scheme has been successfully used that lets a spacecraft reach the ISS in just 6 hours. Previously it took two days, so this is a real step forward. When a rocket is launched, the vibrations in the air are simply incredible. It is not only the entire launch structure that shakes, but also buildings several kilometers away. Just a minute after liftoff, the rocket is already about ten kilometers up in the sky. As soon as the launch is over, the life of the cosmodrome returns to its unhurried pace.
The rocket launch schedule is agreed in advance, and some travel agencies even sell special tours, giving all astronautics fans a unique chance to see a rocket launch with their own eyes.
Baikonur is a legendary place, and once you have seen a huge rocket blaze into the sky, you will surely never forget such a sight. It is at moments like these that you realize adventure is closer than it seems.
Photos from the source.