THE CREATION OF THE BAIKONUR COSMODROME
The Baikonur spaceport is so much in that word! After all, this word is connected with the beginning of mankind's space exploration, from this very place the first artificial Earth satellite was launched and the first manned space flight was carried out, and the most memorable word in the history of cosmonautics - "Let's go" sounded at this cosmodrome.
Baikonur is a star city and a military training ground, from which humans began to communicate with mysterious and unexplored space. It was from here that the first cosmonaut of the world, Yuri Gagarin, went to conquer the space.
The city of Baikonur is located in Kazakhstan on the right bank of the Syrdarya River and is the administrative and residential center of the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The city itself and the spaceport located here are leased from Kazakhstan by the Russian Federation for the period until 2050. For the lease period Baikonur is endowed with the status of a city of federal significance of the Russian Federation, but it is not a subject of the Russian Federation. Baikonur customs, which serves the city's airports, and the Department of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan, which performs registration functions, remain under the jurisdiction of Kazakhstan.
Baikonur (Baikonyr) is translated from Kazakh as "fertile land". The Baikonur spaceport is the first and largest spaceport in the world. Its area is 6,717 km².
The Baikonur Cosmodrome was the first quay of the Universe. In 1954, the State Commission for the selection of the construction site of the cosmodrome was established. The chairman of the commission was appointed head of the Kapustin Yar test site, Lieutenant General of Artillery V.I. Vozniuk. Having carried out reconnaissance of several regions of the country, the commission came out with a proposal to locate the cosmodrome in the desert region of Kazakhstan east of the Aral Sea, a few hundred kilometers from the village of Baikonyr.
On February 12, 1955, the government made a decision to build the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The head of the construction was Major-General G.M. Shubnikov, a well-known builder. It is noteworthy that it was he who led the erection of the monument to the soldier-liberator under the project of E.V. Vuchetich in Treptow Park in Berlin.
In January 1955 the first detachment of military builders under the command of senior lieutenant I.N. Denezhkin arrived. The creation of the production base began: concrete plants, mortar units, mechanized warehouses for sand and gravel were laid, sawmill and woodworking production was organized. Simultaneously with the beginning of construction the process of formation of the very team of creators of the space harbor was going on. Difficulties encountered by the builders of the spaceport were related not only to severe climatic conditions, but also to the unsettled living conditions and, most importantly, to the extremely short construction time and lack of any experience in the creation of such facilities. They couldn't stand the cars, but people couldn't stand it.
On May 5, 1955 the construction of the residential settlement of cosmodrome testers, which had different names at different times, began: "Tashkent-90", "Zarya", "Zvezdograd", "Leninsk", and since December 1995 - the city of Baikonur. On June 2, 1955, the General Staff approved the organizational and staff structure of the 5th Scientific Research Test Site (NIIP). This date was officially recognized as the birthday of Baikonur Cosmodrome.
By the end of 1955, the range consisted of 26 parts and separate subdivisions. The first to be formed were a car battalion, an aviation link, a security company and a military hospital. A division of the Reserves of the Supreme Command Brigade arrived to the range from Belokorovichi. Lieutenant General A. was appointed the head of the 5th Research Institute of Artillery. I. Nesterenko. At the end of 1955, the total number of servicemen and 664 workers who worked at the training ground was 1900 servicemen and 664 employees.
In December 1956, the construction of the first priority objects of the first space harbor was completed. Finishing of ground equipment, preparation for testing of missile systems began. By the beginning of the tests there were 427 engineers and 237 technicians, of whom up to 25 years - 48% and about 50% of the participants of the Great Patriotic War. The total number of servicemen increased up to 3600 people. Most of the testers underwent training and internships at the factories producing rocket equipment, research institutes and design bureaus, and at the Kapustin Yar proving ground. On May 15, 1957, the first R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile designed by S.P. Korolev was launched from the launch site of the range. The missile consisted of a central unit, four side blocks and a head unit, had a length of 32 m, a maximum diameter of the central unit of 2.95 m, and side blocks 19.8 m long with a maximum diameter of 2.95 m. Maximum width of the package's air wheels is 10.3 m. The starting mass is up to 273 tons, the traction on the Earth is 3940 kN, the flight range is 8600 km.
