Baikonur Bashny.Net

Baikonur (State Test Cosmodrome №5) - the first and the world's largest spaceport, located on the territory of Kazakhstan, near the village of Tyuratam.

Is of international importance. The ability to run all types of launch vehicles. One of the three spaceports of the planet, along with the spaceport Cape Canaveral, USA and Jiuquan, China, to run machines with astronauts on board. The orbit of the ISS was chosen taking into account the latitude Baikonur - it planned to implement (and implement) major launches.

Baikonur began to build 12 January 1955 and became the largest spaceport of the Soviet Union. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s departed cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Russia's lease until 2050.

From the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch was carried out of Sputnik and the first manned space flight, launched a series of manned spacecraft "Vostok", "Voskhod", "Soyuz", a series of orbital stations "Salute", "Peace", a system of reusable "Energy "-" Buran ", interplanetary spacecraft, satellites.

Cosmodrome produced an average of about 50% of all Russian spacecraft launches, and on the total weight of output payloads - more than 80%, including 100% of launches into geostationary orbit.