On April 28, 1955, large-scale construction work began on the territory of the future cosmodrome
In the history of the space age, there are several undeniably unique events that have become milestones that mark the path of mankind to the stars. And it would not be an exaggeration to say that most of them were "supplied" by Russian cosmonauts, engineers, designers, builders and other people, whose hands were used to create Russian cosmonautics. The first launch of an artificial Earth satellite and the first manned flight into space - these two achievements alone would have been enough for Russia to forever inscribe its name in world space history.
But there are a few more dates that are much less often remembered even in our country, not to mention others. The matter concerns the choice of the location and construction of the Baikonur cosmodrome - the first "space gate" of the Earth. In its history, the most important - because the first! - became 1955, during which the development of the site of the future cosmodrome began. On January 12, the first division of military builders arrived at the Tyura-Tam crossing in the Kazakh steppe, who began to prepare places for their comrades and mark out the contours of future objects. On February 12, the Council of Ministers of the USSR issued a decree on the creation of a ballistic missile testing ground - NIIIP No. 5. On April 28, military builders, waiting for the ground to thaw, poured the first cubic meter of concrete into the foundation of the first object of the future cosmodrome - a highway that connected the first buildings and the launch pad (its construction began on July 20). On May 5, the first capital building of the residential town was laid, and on July 2, it became the official birthday of the cosmodrome: then the General Staff approved the staff structure of NIIP No. 5 and created the headquarters of the test site.
More than half a century has passed since that distant day, but the cosmodrome still continues its work. Today it, once built by the forces and means of one large country, has ended up in one of its fragments - independent Kazakhstan, from which Russia leases Baikonur for $ 115 million a year. But this does not prevent our country from annually launching one and a half to two dozen spacecraft from here, supporting the life of the even aged, but still workable legend of Russian space. Moreover, the already achieved results from Baikonur and its employees will never be taken away by anyone, and among these achievements there are many world records and events that took place for the first time in the world!
1. The world's first cosmodrome in terms of the size of the occupied area
The Baikonur Cosmodrome covers an area of 6,717 km2, making it the largest cosmodrome in the world. On this area there are 16 launch complexes (including 8 operating), 11 assembly and test buildings, two filling and neutralization stations, a universal and technical filling stations, a measuring complex with a computing center and an oxygen-nitrogen plant. But the cosmodrome is only part of the Baikonur complex, which includes the city of Baikonur, which was first called the village of Leninsky, and then the city of Leninsky. In the city, the population of which exceeds 70 thousand people (almost half of them are Russians), there are more than 300 residential buildings, six hotels, a hospital and two clinics, 14 schools, vocational schools, a technical school and a branch of one of the leading aerospace universities in Russia - MAI. Plus two airfields - Extreme and Yubileiny (the only Russian shuttle Buran landed on the latter in 1988).
2. The world's first cosmodrome in terms of the number of spacecraft launches
The annual number of spacecraft launches from one or another cosmodrome varies greatly and depends on many reasons: the state of the national space program, the availability of financial, technical and political capabilities of the operating country, and so on. And although Russia is gradually transferring some of the launches to the Plesetsk cosmodrome, and will soon begin transferring to the Vostochny cosmodrome, the vast majority of Russian launches are still carried out from Baikonur. Due to this, the cosmodrome in the past few years has regained the world leadership in the number of annual launches. In particular, last year 18 launches were made from Baikonur, 17 from the American Canaveral cosmodrome, and only 12 from the Guiana Space Center (Eurocosmodrome).
3. The world's first launch of a space satellite
Baikonur has become a place that has gone down in history forever as the place of the first space launch. On October 4, 1957, it was from here that the world's first artificial Earth satellite, PS-1, aka "Sputnik-1", was launched into near-earth orbit. It started at 22:28 Moscow time and spent 92 days in low-earth orbit - until January 4, 1958, having completed 1440 revolutions around the Earth. The satellite's radio transmitters were operational for two weeks after launch, and the famous "beep-beep-beep" could be received by radio amateurs around the world. But, in addition to world fame, this day returned to Russia and confidence in world politics: it proved that our country is the only one in the world! - has a ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear charge. The R-7, which put the satellite into orbit, was just such a rocket: its first "military" successful launch, which no one trumpeted anywhere, took place at Baikonur on August 21, 1957.
4. The world's first launch of a satellite that photographed the far side of the Moon
Exactly two years after the first space launch, Baikonur once again became the platform from which the man-made creation went into the unknown. On October 4, 1959, the Vostok-L launch vehicle took off from Earth, carrying the Luna-3 space station on board. Three days later, the satellite reached the Moon and managed for the first time in history to photograph its reverse side, invisible from our planet. This was actually a double success of the Soviet lunar program, because less than a month before that, on September 14, the automatic station "Luna-2" became the first apparatus in the world to descend to the lunar surface.
Baikonur from a bird's eye view. Photo: 50ism.com
5. The world's first launch of a manned spacecraft that has returned from orbit
On August 19, 1960 at 11:44 Moscow time, the Vostok launch vehicle - the successor to the legendary R-7 - with the Sputnik-5 spacecraft on board was launched from Baikonur. After 25 hours, the spacecraft's descent capsule returned to Earth, from which the search group retrieved the first living creatures that had been in orbit and returned back - the dogs Belka and Strelka. This flight was of great scientific importance and directly predetermined the features of subsequent launches: the obvious malaise of the dogs on the fourth orbit led scientists to the conclusion that the first manned flight into orbit should be with a minimum number of orbits.
6. The world's first launch of a manned spacecraft with a man on board
April 12, 1961 became the birthday of manned astronautics. At 9:07 am Moscow time, the Vostok launch vehicle with the spacecraft of the same name on board launched from site number 1 (since then at Baikonur it has been called the Gagarin launch), and half an hour later, the world's first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin ended up in orbit. According to the approved program, adjusted taking into account the results of the Belka and Strelka flight, the Vostok spacecraft made a single orbit around the Earth, and the entire flight took 108 minutes - at 10:55 Gagarin had already landed in the Saratov region.
7. The world's first launch of a spacecraft that landed on another planet
The launch vehicle "Molniya", in the head part of which the automatic station "Venera-3" was located, was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome on November 16, 1965 at 7:19 Moscow time. The program for the exploration of Venus in the Soviet Union was extensive and rather complicated. So, "Venera-3" flew to the second planet of the solar system in tandem with the station "Venera-2", which was four days ahead of it when starting from the Earth and two days when approaching the target. Unfortunately, it was not possible to obtain meaningful information about the Venusian atmosphere and other features of the planet: the control system of the station failed on approach, and on Earth they only recorded that it had reached the surface of Venus.
8. The world's first launch of a rover
On November 10, 1970, at 17:44 Moscow time, a Proton carrier rocket, carrying the Luna-17 interplanetary station, was launched from Baikonur. The serial number of the station hinted that there was nothing unusual about the seventeenth launch of the satellite to the Moon - and deceived. On board the station was the world's first rover, designed to move on the surface of another celestial body. It was called "Lunokhod-1" and had to, among other tasks, choose a place for the landing of the Soviet cosmonauts. On November 17, the lunar rover reached the moon and slid down to its surface. It worked for almost 11 months, that is, more than three times longer than its creators expected, and it is not his fault that the place he chose for landing the Soviet lunar cabin remained unused.
9. The world's first launch of a manned space station
The Salyut-1 long-term inhabited station (DOS) was launched from Baikonur aboard the Proton launch vehicle on April 19, 1971, just a little short of the tenth anniversary of the first manned space flight. During the 175 days that the world's first orbital station spent in space, two expeditions managed to go to it. The first, alas, failed to get on board the Salyut due to a technical failure, but the second safely visited the station, proving to the whole world that the long-term existence of man in near-earth orbit has finally passed from the realm of science fiction to the realm of objective reality.
10. The world's first rocket launch with a space tourist on board
On April 28, 2001, exactly 46 years after the start of construction of the Baikonur cosmodrome, the world's first space tourist, American businessman Dennis Tito, went into orbit from its launch pad No. 1 - the very same "Gagarin Launch". By the time of launch, he was 61 years old, but this did not prevent the multimillionaire, who paid $ 20 million for his trip, to spend six days in space. He became the first non-professional astronaut to visit the International Space Station.
