The Baikonur rocket and missile site in the middle of Kazakhstan is an area of some 90 kms in diameter which is leased to Russia until 2050. At its heart is the spaceport, and central to the spaceport’s modest visitors area is a small museum where the world’s first astronaut Yuri Gagarin lived ahead of his launch into orbit on a Vostok rocket on 12 April1961. The museum and its associated exterior special exhibits is to be created into a museum complex.

Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry says that during the first half of 2025, it is planned to accept from the Russian side the facilities of Site No. 1 (Gagarin Launch) to create an open-air museum. Site No. 1 has not been used since 2019.

It is – as yet – far from clear whether the site will include seeing the surviving Buran spaceplane, Russia’s answer to the USA’s space shuttle programme. Also in an adjacent hanger, but covered in dust is a Russian Concordski (officially a Tupolev Tu-144) and arguably the world’s biggest aviation failures which managed just 55 completed flights and suffered two fatal crashes including a mid-air break-up 1973 at the Paris Air Show killing 14 people.

Kazakhs can visit Baikonur easily enough but the only way to visit the cosmodrome, is by guided tour. Prices vary wildly but are always steep: a one-day tour starting from Almaty starts from US$700 per person, while a multi-day excursion from Moscow can cost $5,000.

The Baikonur cosmodrome remains a busy workplace and is the oldest spaceport on the planet and is claimed to remain the world’s busiest rocket launch site.

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Categories: Blogs, Inside Satellite, Satellite

Tags: Kazakhstan, satellite