Baikonur Cosmodrome - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Baikonur Cosmodrome Russian: Космодром Байконур Kosmodrom Baykonur
Baikonur Cosmodrome's "Gagarin's Start" Soyuz launch pad before the rollout of Soyuz TMA-13, 10 October 2008.
A Soyuz rocket takes off from Baikonur
IATA: none ICAO: none LID: GC0015
Summary
Airport type	Spaceport
Owner/Operator	Roscosmos Russian Aerospace Forces
Location	Kazakhstan
Time zone	UTC+06:00 (+06:00)
Elevation AMSL	90 m / 300 ft
Coordinates	45°57′54″N 63°18′18″E / 45.96500°N 63.30500°E / 45.96500; 63.30500

Baikonur Cosmodrome (Russian: Космодро́м Байкону́р, romanized: Kosmodrom Baykonur; Kazakh: Байқоңыр ғарыш айлағы, romanized: Bayqoñ'yr ğar'yş aylağ'y) is a spaceport in southern Kazakhstan. It is the first and most active space port in the world.^[1] It is leased to Russia until 2050, and is managed by Roskosmos and the Russian aerospace forces. It was originally built by the Soviet Union in the late 1950s. There are many commercial, military and scientific rocket launches each year ^[2] All crewed Russian spaceflights are launched from Baikonur.

Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, was launched from Baikonur in 1957. Vostok 1, the first human spaceflight, was also launched from Baikonur, carrying Yuri Gagarin. The launchpad used for both of these missions was renamed Gagarin's Start.

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