Launch Site – Baikonur Cosmodrome
Map of Baikonur
Foton-M2 will be launched on a Soyuz-U launcher
from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
This is the first time that a Foton spacecraft will be
launched from Baikonur as all previous Foton
launches took place from the Plesetsk
Cosmodrome in the Arkhangelskaya Region of
North-Western Russia. Baikonur Cosmodrome is
the oldest, and Russia’s largest, space launch
facility in the world.
Following the demise of the Soviet Union, the
Baikonur Cosmodrome fell under the ownership of
Kazakhstan. However, in 1994 the Russian
Federation and Kazakhstan concluded a 20-year
leasing arrangement whereby Baikonur would
come under control of the Russian Federation for
an annual fee and most of the skilled workers and
the military forces protecting some of the facilities
are Russian. From then on the Russian
administration rebuilt Baikonur’s infrastructure,
supplying finances using commercial launch
activities for many nations.
There are ten operational launch pads as well as
three Energiya launch pads, which are no longer
in use. Unlike many space launch facilities in the
world, Baikonur is not directly situated on or near
a coast. This situation limits the permissible
launch profile to avoid impacts near populated or
foreign regions, e.g., due east launches (the most
advantageous) from Baikonur are forbidden since
lower rocket stages would fall on Chinese
territory. Consequently, the lower, sub-orbital
stages of boosters normally fall back on former
Soviet territory.
Launch pad at Baikonur (Image: NASA)
The Baikonur cosmodrome extends for 85 km
from North to South, and from 125 km from East
to West. Aside from dozens of launch pads it
includes five tracking-control centres, nine
tracking stations, and a 1500 km rocket test
range.
In the 1950's, the Soviet Union announced that
space launch operations were being conducted
from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Some concluded
that this facility must be near the city of Baikonur,
Kazakhstan. In truth, the launch facilities are
located 400 km to the southwest near the railhead
at Tyuratam.
The first successful launch from Baikonur took
place in August 1957 of the first R-7
intercontinental ballistic missile, which would put
the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1 into orbit one
month later on 4 October 1957. The R-7 would
further develop into the Soyuz launcher, which will
be putting the Foton-M2 into orbit.
Sputnik 1, which was put into orbit by an R-7 launcher from
Baikonur in October 1957 (Image: S.P.Korolev RSC Energia)
Construction started on the Cosmodrome in 1955.
This also included construction of the
administrative town of Leninsk (also renamed
Baikonur in the 1990s by former Russian
president Boris Yeltsin), which is situated nearby
on the Syr Dar river to provide apartments,
schools, and administrative support to the tens of
thousands of workers at the launch facility.
Following the launch of Sputnik 1, Baikonur
witnessed many more milestones of space
history: Yuri Gagarin and Vostok 1 were put into
orbit from here on 12 April 1961; the launch of the
first Soyuz launcher and spacecraft at the end of
the 1960’s; the launch of the Salyut space Station
modules between 1971 and 1982; the launch of
the Mir Space Station modules from 1986; launch
of the discontinued Buran space shuttle in 1988;
and the launch of the first ISS module ‘Zarya’ in
November 1998.
Former ESA astronaut Claudie Haigneré at Baikonur before
launch of the Andromède mission in October 2001. She
became the first ESA astronaut to be launched on an ISS
mission from Baikonur. (Image: ESA/CNES)
The first ISS element, the Russian Zarya module, being launched
from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 20 November 1998. (Image: NASA)
Many European astronauts have also been
launched on missions from the Baikonur
Cosmodrome including five ESA astronauts on
missions to the ISS: Claudie Haigneré (2001),
Roberto Vittori (2002 and 2005), Frank De Winne
(2002), Pedro Duque (2003), and André Kuipers
(2004).
Landing area
Landing area for Baikonur launches
The map above shows the designated landing
areas for manned and unmanned capsules
launched from the Baikonur and Plesetsk
Cosmodromes. The circled numbers refer to the
Foton (in white) and Bion (in blue) missions that
have taken place in the past. Before the break up
of the Soviet Union most capsules landed within
the borders of Kazakhstan. Once the latter
became an independent state, the Russian
Federation decided to also designate a landing
area for unmanned capsules within the borders of
Russia. Since then, most landings have taken
place in (or very close to) the Russian sector, to
avoid the extra costs resulting from transportation
to and from Kazakhstan.
The landing of the Foton-M2 re-entry capsule
should take place in the area around the Russian
town of Orenburg, close to the Chebyinke military
base.