05.23.2005 14:12
Kazakhstan's Missile Junk
Eurasianet has a very
brief article,
Kazakhstan's Spaceship Junkyard with a
slideshow.
The Baikonur Cosmodrome (actually near Tyuratam, 400 km to the southwest of Baikonur) was the Soviet Union's and Russia's main launch facility for 'all manned and man-related (e.g., space stations and resupply ships), lunar, interplanetary, high-altitude navigation, and GEO missions'.
Since it is landlocked, the boosters and fuel/oxidizer tanks fall back on former Soviet territory, and the missions must be planned to avoid the stages from falling near populations or in China.
Military launches will be soon made only from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, about 400 miles northeast of St. Petersburg. Like Baikonur, Plesetsk is landlocked, but it is not near any international boundaries, though launches still must be planned to avoid populated areas.
The Baikonur Cosmodrome (actually near Tyuratam, 400 km to the southwest of Baikonur) was the Soviet Union's and Russia's main launch facility for 'all manned and man-related (e.g., space stations and resupply ships), lunar, interplanetary, high-altitude navigation, and GEO missions'.
Since it is landlocked, the boosters and fuel/oxidizer tanks fall back on former Soviet territory, and the missions must be planned to avoid the stages from falling near populations or in China.
Military launches will be soon made only from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, about 400 miles northeast of St. Petersburg. Like Baikonur, Plesetsk is landlocked, but it is not near any international boundaries, though launches still must be planned to avoid populated areas.
