On January 11, 1957, the Soviet government decided to build the Angara facility among the forests and northern swamps near the Plesetskaya station of the Arkhangelsk Region. It was conceived as a missile test range and at the same time a base for the first R-7 ICBMs (SS-6 "Sapwood"). Nowadays it is the northernmost Plesetsk cosmodrome.
Its history began with the creation in this place of the R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile division. The chosen location met all the requirements of the military: the impenetrable taiga and constant low clouds made it easier to camouflage the strategic object. And most importantly - the minimum distance to the territories of a potential enemy.
The birth of "Angara" at the height of the Cold War took place in the shadow of the Baikonur cosmodrome and had the status of a state secret. The formation of the facility as an ICBM division was completed by the end of 1958. And already in January 1960, the first missile system with R-7, called Lesobaza, was put on duty.
For the Soviet people, all this was really a secret; the connection of the "sevens" in the Arkhangelsk forests was openly talked about only in the 90s. But the Americans have known about the facility since the 60s, when the first space launches were made from here. The paradox of Soviet times, and partly, perhaps, of the present, is that a potential enemy knows more about us than our military. I don’t want to develop this topic, but I know what I’m talking about.
Little-known fact: "Lesobaza" played its role in the most tense period of the Cuban missile crisis - at a critical moment, the launch complex kept a missile with a nuclear head at the ready. The Americans probably knew about this.
Having undergone changes in development, the Angara facility turned into a test site, which was later transformed into the 1st State Test Cosmodrome. From the 1970s to the early 90s, he held the lead in terms of the number of launches into orbit. And now it provides part of Russian space programs related to defense, as well as national economic and commercial launches of unmanned vehicles.
For 60 years of rapid development, of course, not everything went smoothly in such a matter as missile tests. There were also emergency situations, unfortunately, with the death of people. The biggest one happened on March 18, 1980 while refueling a rocket. The fuel explosion took 48 lives.
Today, the northernmost cosmodrome includes six centers associated with tests of various rocket systems. After the introduction of Vostochny Plesetsk, it will retain the functions of the country's main military cosmodrome, in other words, it will return to its origins.
