Facts about Baikonur Cosmodrome
- 10
Dust storms across the Kazakh steppe periodically forced launch delays at Baikonur Cosmodrome, prompting engineers to develop specialized weather prediction systems in the 1960s.
- 09
Russia's annual lease payment to Kazakhstan for Baikonur Cosmodrome operations amounts to approximately 115 million dollars as of recent agreements.
- 08
Energia, the Soviet heavy-lift rocket designed at Baikonur Cosmodrome, successfully launched the Buran space shuttle orbiter on November 15, 1988, in the program's only crewed flight.
- 07
Located at 50 degrees north latitude in the Kazakh steppe, Baikonur Cosmodrome sits 160 meters above sea level on a remote desert plateau ideal for rocket launches.
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Approximately 2,400 spacecraft have been launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome since its founding in 1955, including all crewed Soyuz missions to the International Space Station.
- 05
The R-7 rocket, which first launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in 1957, remains the basis for Soyuz vehicles still operating there over 65 years later.
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Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space aboard Vostok 1, launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on April 12, 1961.
- 03
Over 2,300 orbital launches have occurred from the facility since 1957, making Baikonur Cosmodrome the world's busiest spaceport by flight count.
- 02
Kazakhstan leases 1,294 square kilometers of its territory to Russia specifically for Baikonur Cosmodrome operations through an agreement extending until 2050.
- 01
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, marking humanity's first artificial satellite in orbit.