Baikonur history
In total, over 2500 rockets and more than 3000 spacecraft and satellites have been launched from the spaceport for more than half a century of its history, and more than 150 cosmonauts have been launched into orbit. Today, the spaceport is experiencing growing attention from the world market of space launch services. Having entered its sixth decade, Baikonur remains the world's most "launching" space launch site, the world's largest space cooperation facility.
At the same time, Baikonur, which has become truly transnational and forward-looking, embodies the deepest symbolism of the national spirit of the Kazakh people. N.A. Nazarbayev reminds that a special, cosmic future for the land of Baikonur was predicted by the holy old man Korkyt-ata. Korkyt-at spent his whole life in search of holy land and eternal life. Finally, he returned to his native land, to the banks of the Syrdarya River, and before his death he told that it was here that he found the holy land. He called the place of his death "Gerkindigi" - the umbilical cord of the earth, and it was here that he felt an amazing connection with Heaven and the Almighty. A few centuries later, Soviet scientists headed by S.P. Korolev chose the current Baikonur cosmodrome for construction. The area near the burial place of Korkyt-Ata became the cradle of the world cosmonautics, a space center, a star port of the Earth. Analyzing the development of space activities in Kazakhstan, Nazarbayev conditionally divides it into several stages.
The first stage, which included 1991-1994, had a pronounced national character: two Kazakh cosmonauts flew into space, and the first space programme of Kazakhstan was launched.
The second stage, the regulatory framework, includes the next decade from 1994 to 2004.
The third phase, which began in 2005, can be called the active and practical development of space activities in Kazakhstan.
On 18 June 2006, Kazakhstan became a space power. On that historic day, the first Kazakh satellite, KazSat, was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. This was due to the close and active cooperation of the two States: Russia and Kazakhstan.
The next period of independent Kazakhstan's space activities covers the period 2007-2012 and is linked to the activities of the National Space Agency (Kazkosmos), which was established under a presidential decree of 27 March 2007. The Head of State set a goal of creating a modern and self-sufficient space industry in Kazakhstan, and significant results have been achieved over the past five years.
