the Soviet Union launched a Venus-bound lander probe called Cosmos 482 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan which never got out of Earth’s orbit is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere in a week or so “Because the probe was designed to withstand entry into the Venus atmosphere, it is possible the probe (or parts of it) will survive reentry at Earth and reach the surface,” U.S. space agency NASA said on Friday “It is thought that a malfunction resulted in an engine burn which did not achieve sufficient velocity for the Venus transfer and left the payload in this elliptical Earth orbit The lander probe orbit has been decaying over time and it is expected to reenter Earth’s atmosphere around 10 May 2025,” NASA said Right now, it’s hard to say where the lander will make its return. It’s possible that the spacecraft, or chunks of it, could survive reentry through the Earth’s atmosphere instead of burning up. After all, it has a titanium protective shell originally designed to get through the extreme atmosphere of Venus which has the hottest surface of any planet in the solar system Dr. Marco Langbroek, a scientist based in the Netherlands, said on the SatTrackCam Leiden (b)log that he doesn’t think the lander’s parachute deployment system will work during the “uncontrolled” reentry “There are many uncertain factors in this though including that this will be a long shallow reentry trajectory and the age of the object,” Langbroek said “The risks involved are not particularly high but not zero: with a mass of just under 500 kg and 1-meter size risks are similar to that of a meteorite impact.” Today, Russia operates the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which retains a popular allure for its role in early space exploration and is still a vital part of the Russian space program. On April 20, one NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts made a parachute-supported landing on the steppes of Kazakhstan after a journey back to Earth from the International Space Station. The three men had launched from Baikonur and docked at the station on Sept. 11 last year, spending 220 days in space on that trip. with the ISS nearing the end of its service life Russia plans to go it alone with its own space station for which it plans to launch the first two modules in 2027 It is also expanding its cooperation with China in space exploration.Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew Osborn in Moscow and Maxim Shemetov in Baikonur Kazakhstan; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Bernadette Baum Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab , opens new tab Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. , opens new tabScreen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved You don't have permission to access the page you requested What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed Note: Special thanks to Harry Stranger for acquiring the Cold War satellite images. His website is https://spacefromspace.com/ Dwayne Day can be reached at zirconic1@cox.net There will be a delay in posting comments and no guarantee that all submitted comments will be posted Site update log About this site Mailbox SUPPORT THIS SITE! Soyuz anomaly history INSIDER CONTENT PTK SOTR Soyuz TMA-M SOTR system Soyuz-MS SOTR system Soyuz MS series SUBSCRIBE! | ADVERTISE! | DONATE! The first of two Soyuz crew vehicles scheduled to go to the International Space Station in 2025 launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on April 8 Soyuz MS-27 docked to the station's Prichal module three hours later Previous mission: Soyuz MS-26 The primary crew of the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft inside the Descent Module during practice: Jonathan (Jonny) Kim The Soyuz MS-27 mission marked the extension of the Russian ISS shifts from around six months to roughly eight months in order to cut the number of Soyuz vehicles flying to the station from two per year to 1.5 annually The launch was originally planned on March 20 On Aug. 21, 2024, Roskosmos announced that Russian cosmonauts Sergei Ryzhikov and Aleksei Zubritsky would be accompanied by NASA astronaut Jonathan Kim aboard Soyuz MS-27 The US astronaut will fly under an exchange agreement which also put Roskosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov on NASA's Commercial Crew 10 then scheduled for launch aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft in February 2025 Russian cosmonauts Sergei Kud'-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev along with NASA astronaut Christopher Williams were assigned to a back-up crew Soyuz MS-27 was delivered to Baikonur in early December 2024 and its processing for launch started in mid-January 2025 The booster stages of the Soyuz-2-1a rocket for the mission were integrated into a cluster at the vehicle assembly building at Site 31 by the end of Jan The solar panels of Soyuz MS-27 were deployed and tested to exposure to light by March 17 the primary and back-up crews tried their Sokol-KV2 pressure safety suits and conducted familiarization training inside the flight-ready Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft after which it was sent to a fueling station Fueling operations were completed on March 25 and the crew vehicle was returned to Site 254 for the loading of cargo installation of the exterior thermal protection layers and weighting the spacecraft was integrated with the launch vehicle adapter members of Expedition-73 conducted their final training inside the flight-ready Soyuz MS-27 before the primary crew would board it on the launch day the assembly of the payload section with the Soyuz MS-27 was completed and it was transported from spacecraft processing building at Site 254 to the vehicle assembly building at Site 31 for integration with the Soyuz-2-1a rocket The launch vehicle with the spacecraft was rolled out to the launch pad at Site 31 on the morning of April 5 A Soyuz-2-1a rocket with the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft lifted off as scheduled on April 8, 2025, at 08:47:15.039 Moscow Time (1:47 a.m. EDT) from Site 31 in Baikonur The emergency escape rocket and the four boosters of the first stage were expected to impact the ground 330 and 350 kilometers downrange from the launch site respectively Around 40 seconds after the first stage separation as the vehicle exited the dense atmosphere at an altitude of 79 kilometers and a velocity of 2.2 kilometers per second the payload fairing protecting the spacecraft split into two halves and fell away at 08:49:48 Moscow Time They were projected to fall 500 kilometers downrange from the launch site In the meantime, the second (core) stage of the rocket continued firing until 4.8 minutes into the flight (L+287.70 seconds). Moments before the second stage completed its work, the four-chamber engine of the third stage ignited firing through the lattice structure connecting the two stages The second stage then shot down its engine and separated at 08:52:00 Moscow Time Moments after the separation of the core booster at an altitude of 157 kilometers and a velocity of 3.8 kilometers per second the aft skirt of the third stage split into three segments and separated as well (at L+296.31 seconds) The second-stage booster and the sections of the aft skirt were projected to impact the ground 1,550 and 1,570 kilometers downrange from the launch site respectively Following the 8-minute 49-second climb to orbit the propulsion system of the third stage was cut off (at L+526.22 seconds) releasing Soyuz MS-27 into an initial orbit three seconds later (at L+529.52 seconds; 08:56:05.769 Moscow Time) The launch targeted the 242 by 200-kilometer orbit with an inclination 51.67 degrees toward the Equator Rendezvous and docking operations the ISS was in a 415.139 by 437.870-kilometer orbit but the station flew over Baikonur just seconds later and overtook the transport ship by the time it reached orbit in less than nine minutes Soyuz MS-27 entered orbit just 14.6 degrees away from the ISS in the phasing angle or 1,008 miles behind the outpost which made it possible to perform a rendezvous with the station after a more than three-hour two-orbit autonomous flight of the crew vehicle According to the Russian mission control, between 09:01 and 09:08 Moscow Time, Soyuz MS-27 was scheduled to perform tests of the Kurs rendezvous system and the Motion Control and Navigation System, SUDN. Then, between 09:10 and 09:13, the ship's docking mechanism was expected to extend its probe into the operational position the crew vehicle was to begin rendezvous maneuvers with the station to enter the 355.652 by 426.1-kilometer intercept orbit during the second revolution around the Earth As usual, the final autonomous rendezvous process included six firings of the propulsion system (INSIDER CONTENT) which had the following timeline during the Soyuz MS-27 mission: According to the Russian mission control in Korolev the autonomous rendezvous of Soyuz MS-27 on April 8 Slightly ahead of schedule, Soyuz MS-27 began a 55-degree flyaround of the ISS from a distance of around 400 meters to align itself with the nadir (Earth-facing) docking port of the Prichal Node Module, UM, a part of the Russian ISS Segment The hatch opening was scheduled for 14:20 Moscow Time (7:20 a.m after the pressurization of the newly formed docking interface and a series of air leak checks The hatch on the side of the Prichal module was opened around 14:10 Moscow Time and the hatch on Soyuz was opened at 14:27:31 Moscow Time (7:27 a.m the three members of the Soyuz MS-27 crew joined the seven other members of Expedition 72: NASA astronauts Nichole Ayers a Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi and three Roskosmos cosmonauts: Aleksei Ovchinin Following an 11-day handover operation, Soyuz MS-26 will depart the ISS on April 19 marking the end of Expedition 72 and the start of Expedition 73 on the station The Soyuz MS-27 crew is scheduled to remain aboard the ISS until December 2025 Page editor: Alain Chabot; last edit: April 7 Soyuz MS-27 during pre-launch preparations at the spacecraft processing building at Site 254 in Baikonur Soyuz MS-27 is being prepared for integration with its payload fairing Launch vehicle with Soyuz MS-27 rolls out from vehicle assembly building at Site 31 on its way to the launch pad Launch vehicle with Soyuz MS-27 shortly after installation on the launch pad at Site 31 in Baikonur Three EU citizens were detained this week for illegally entering the Russian-controlled Baikonur Cosmodrome in central Kazakhstan The secretive space launch facility in a remote area of the Kazakh steppe has become a magnet for daredevil tourists many of whom attempt to break into the hangars housing old Soviet-era spacecraft "were arrested on Tuesday for unlawfully entering the territory of Baikonur," a Russian military court spokesperson told AFP The three were removed from the city after spending 24 hours in police custody The Baikonur Cosmodrome is the largest and most active spaceport in the world launching thousands of rockets including the world's first manned spacecraft carrying Yuri Gagarin in 1961 Several tourists including social media influencers have managed to break into the complex sometimes after spending nights hiding from the site's security in the surrounding desert A French tourist died on the territory of the spaceport in June apparently after suffering "dehydration in extremely hot and dry temperatures," officials said at the time whose YouTube channel "Bald and Bankrupt" has over 4 million followers was detained and fined for entering Baikonur in the spring of 2022 the spaceport became part of independent Kazakhstan when the U.S.S.R dissolved in 1991 but remains controlled by Moscow under a lease set to expire in 2050 Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent." These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help please support us monthly starting from just $2 and every contribution makes a significant impact independent journalism in the face of repression A Russian Soyuz rocket lofts the Progress MS-28 (89p) cargo spacecraft on a mission to resupply the International Space Station on Wednesday Russia launched its 89th cargo craft to fly to the International Space Station on Wednesday (Aug The unpiloted Progress MS-28 freighter launched atop a Soyuz rocket from the Russia-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:20 p.m EDT (0320 GMT and 8:20 local Baikonur time on Aug Progress MS-28 (or 89P as NASA refers to it) is packed with nearly three tons of food, scientific equipment and other supplies for the astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) It's slated to arrive at the orbiting lab on Saturday (Aug docking autonomously with the rear port of the Zvezda service module at 1:56 a.m You can watch that rendezvous here at Space.com when the time comes Related: Facts about Roscosmos, Russia's space agency That Zvezda port was occupied by the Progress MS-26 (87P) freighter until Monday night (Aug. 12), when it departed the ISS after a six-month stay and headed down to a fiery death in Earth's atmosphere.  as it can come back to Earth safely for parachute-aided ocean splashdowns  — ISS astronauts watch Russian cargo ship burn up in Earth's atmosphere (photos)  — Soyuz spacecraft suffers 'fairly substantial' leak at space station, cancels spacewalk by Russian cosmonauts —  Russia's replacement Soyuz spacecraft arrives at space station Progress MS-28 (89P) will join five other vehicles at the ISS when it arrives on Saturday morning Currently parked at the orbiting lab are two freighters, Progress MS-27 (88P) and Cygnus NG-21, and three crew-carrying craft: a Russian Soyuz, SpaceX's Crew Dragon Endeavour and Boeing's Starliner, which is conducting its first-ever astronaut flight Starliner reached the ISS on June 6 for a planned weeklong stay, but it has remained in orbit as engineers troubleshoot issues with its reaction control system thrusters Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com. but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California 'Falcon' flies on Star Wars Day: SpaceX launches Starlink satellites from Florida (photos) NASA's Artemis 2 moon rocket gets 2nd stage even as Trump tries to scrap Space Launch System (photos) NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner It seemed almost routine: One American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts traveling to the International Space Station in a Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan barren part of the Central Asian country has been a mainstay of travel to the station for many years But the three-hour trip on the Soyuz on Wednesday made some space history, increasing the total number of people currently in Earth’s orbit to a record of 19 The previous record of 17 was set last year The trip brings the number of people currently on the International Space Station to 12, including seven Americans and five Russians, according to NASA The group will get a little smaller on Sept when one American and two Russians are scheduled to depart There are also three people on China’s space station and four people led by billionaire Jared Isaacman on the five-day Polaris Dawn mission The new arrivals at the International Space Station are NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner They’ll spend about six months in space and return to Earth in the spring of 2025 It’s the fourth trip to space for Pettit and Ovchinin and the second for Vagner NASA and Roscosmos currently have a “cross-flights” deal involving travel to and from the International Space Station for three Russian cosmonauts on the U.S astronauts on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft The two space agencies are working on extending the agreement beyond the spring of 2025, the Russian news agency Interfax reported in a story with a Baikonur dateline. It quoted Kenneth Bowersox, NASA associate administrator for space operations. The joint missions are one of the rare areas of collaboration between Russia and the United States at a time of heightened tension over the Ukraine war. Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Ron Popeski Image: Valentina Tereshkova commemorative stamp The Baikonur Cosmodrome in a remote part of Kazakhstan has long held allure for people – trespassers included – who are intrigued by its storied role as a facility that pioneered early space exploration and remains a vital part of Russia’s space program Tass did not report on the status of the Australian The attempted break-in at the Russian-run base occurred in the area of ​​the disused assembly and refueling complex of the Buran spacecraft, a space shuttle that was developed in the 1970s and 1980s by the Soviet Union space shuttle program posed a possible military threat but the program was abandoned because of high costs and a lack of purpose In 2022, British YouTuber Benjamin Rich documented his trip to Baikonur where he was also detained by Russian authorities The journey involved walking with a companion for many hours across the desert shielding themselves from the sun with umbrellas They were able to enter the decrepit Buran hangar and see the space shuttle but got caught by guards as they were leaving the facility Rich said he and his companion paid a fine of $50 each and were released Last year, RIA Novosti reported that two French citizens tried to reach Baikonur by the same method but one died of dehydration during the arduous journey on foot under an agreement with the Kazakh government Russia continues to launch spacecraft from there The first launch from Baikonur in 2025 occurred on Feb. 28, when a Soyuz rocket hoisted a Russian spacecraft carrying three tons of food, fuel and other supplies that were delivered to the International Space Station. fuel and other supplies are on their way to the International Space Station after a Russian spacecraft lifted off on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan It was the first launch from the space facility this year The Roscosmos Progress MS-30 cargo spacecraft was launched early Friday and the trip to the station will take about two days NASA refers to the space freighter as Progress 91 because it’s the 91st Russian resupply craft to launch in support of the International Space Station since its construction began in 1998 The Progress spacecraft will deliver equipment for scientific experiments, clothing and hygenic items for the crew, potable water, refueling propellant and nitrogen to replenish the atmosphere aboard the station, Russia’s state news agency Tass reported It said the spacecraft is also carrying a new spacesuit 5 spacesuits for extravehicular activity outside the space station,” Tass said On the X platform, space journalist Anatoly Zak posted a photograph of what he said was a “rare view” of the Orlan spacesuit being loaded onto the spacecraft before launch There are three Russians and four Americans on the space station at this time NASA and Roscosmos have a “cross-flights” deal involving travel to and from the station for three Russian cosmonauts on the U.S The joint missions have been one of the rare areas of collaboration between Russia and the United States during the Ukraine war “Delivery!” NASA declared after the launch on Friday. The U.S. space agency provided launch coverage on various platforms and will do the same for the arrival and docking of the Russian spacecraft at the station “The Progress 91 spacecraft will remain docked to the space station for approximately six months before departing for re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere to dispose of trash loaded by the crew,” NASA said Russia has pledged to transfer 44.8 square miles of Baikonur Cosmodrome territory and two Zenit-M rocket launch platforms to Kazakhstan by the end of May 2018 (Iz.ru This became possible thanks to the recent amendments to the lease agreement between the two countries Several important conclusions can be drawn from this development Baikonur is of particular importance both to Russia and Kazakhstan The latter has set ambitious goals to become a space power by the end of May 2018 (Abctv.kz Although Kazakhstan is host to the world’s largest cosmodrome until now the country has never possessed its own space launch infrastructure as Baikonur has been leased entirely by Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union Russia will continue to lease Baikonur—minus the aforementioned transferred portions—for $115 million annually until 2050 Even though the Kazakhstani government has high expectations regarding the country’s space capabilities the specific impact and benefits are more difficult to gauge at this point Kazakhstan’s recently established Ministry of Defense and Aerospace Industry is working to outline Kazakhstan’s strategic interests and goals in the space domain Kazakhstani-Russian cooperation on Baikonur has long been problematic Presidents Vladimir Putin and Nursultan Nazarbayev agreed to start the Baiterek project that would result in the construction of a joint space launch complex for the Angara rocket (365info.kz But financial disagreements and multiple delays eventually made this joint project impossible to implement Other bilateral disputes related to Russia’s space program activities on Kazakhstani soil include environmental the division of labor between Kazakhstan and Russia at Baikonur looks quite peculiar the Kazakhstani government will now possess its own launch platforms the only opportunity for the country to use this Zenit-M ground infrastructure will be to participate in joint projects with Russia which owns and operates the actual rockets for these launch complexes (Tengrinews.kz these facilities will be used to launch the new Russian Soyuz-5 rockets two countries agreed that Russia plans to develop the Soyuz-5 and Kazakhstan will be in charge of modernizing the older Zenit rockets The feasibility study of upgrading the infrastructure at Baikonur is still ongoing the modernization of the Zenit launch pads will cost the Kazakhstani budget approximately $245 million (24.kz The idea for the new Soyuz-5 was born out of Russia’s need to pursue an import-substitution strategy as a result of Western sanctions and Russian counter-sanctions following the Kremlin’s aggression against Ukraine in 2014 The newly developed rocket will reportedly be built using entirely domestically produced Russian components—in comparison with 80 percent Russian-made elements in earlier rocket models The first test launch of the Soyuz-5 from Baikonur is scheduled for 2022 The rocket will carry Russia’s new manned Federation spacecraft (Abctv.kz Kazakhstan plans to establish a spacecraft installation and test complex in National Space Center by the end of 2018 (Kazinform.kz the lessons of the failed Angara rocket cooperation will not prevent Kazakhstan from seeking to participate in future joint projects with Russia including the super-heavy Phoenix carrier rocket which will reportedly be flight tested starting in 2035 (TASS Russia seeks to relocate its main space fleets to domestically located cosmodromes The Russians currently working at the Zenit launch facilities that are being transferred to Kazakhstan will be able to continue to work at the joint Baiterek facilities once they are complete move to other Baikonur facilities still under lease by Moscow the Russian space agency Roscosmos plans to decrease Baikonur’s share of Russia’s space launches from 65 percent to 11 percent while increasing the capacity at Vostochny and the Plesetsk cosmodrome there have only been three rocket launches from Vostochny including one that failed to reach orbit (Lenta.ru Vostochny is unlikely to substitute for Baikonur’s existing infrastructure for years to come the Russian space program will need to continue to rely on its space launch infrastructure on Kazakhstani territory for the foreseeable future Russia’s upcoming transfer of certain Baikonur launch facilities to Kazakhstan will make the two countries’ space programs even more dependent on each other It is obvious that Russia will not leave Baikonur until 2050 the Kazakhstani government hopes to complete Baiterek and establish its own space industry But Astana’s current strategy means that even if rockets are soon launched from Kazakhstani-owned launch pads it still remains an important gateway to the stars As described by Megan Eaves “Baikonur is in many ways a perfect relic of the Soviet 1960s Stoic mosaics depicting muscular comrades heralding a new era of space still decorate entrance gates and the walls of the town’s functional crumbling hangars stand side-by-side next to the original minimalist cottages where Yuri Gagarin and the early cosmonauts slept.” Statue of Yuri Gagarin in the town of Baikonur Near a hotel where visitors stay is Cosmonaut’s Alley a path in a wooded area surrounded by trees planted by all those who launched into space from Baikonur The first tree that greets visitors is Yuri Gagarin’s from 1961 TCA: Your blogs about your experience at Baikonur contain a lot of history on the Russian space program; where and when did you find out about Baikonur and the space program Was there anything in particular that piqued your interest but I’ve been intrigued by space travel since I was a kid but with the addition of the exoticness from a Western perspective and the Soviet Union’s space program is so rich when I found out about the opportunity to visit Baikonur and witness a space launch It was this unique opportunity to witness firsthand Soviet/Russian space traditions The added bonus is so few people make the effort to visit Museum in the Chelomey International Space School TCA: You stated that “This was not your typical tourist trip to Paris…This was a group of space geeks and Soviet fan boys.” Which one are you One experience we had was watching the cosmonauts leave their quarantine hotel and board the bus to take them for their final preparations before the launch A crowd of a couple of hundred people had circled their bus; it was a rock star moment To know these guys were soon to be launched into space touches you emotionally this is a dream come true for Soviet fan boys images and the monuments date back to the inception of the space program TCA: How easy was it to arrange and how affordable was it Could independent travelers cut some corners to make it happen or do they need to do it strictly through a tour company I contacted a company that specialized in these tours I sent my money and a scan of the passport and they took care of my visit to Baikonur The reality is that Baikonur isn’t centrally located for many Western travelers It does take a bit of extra effort to make your way there When I went it was approximately €2,000 for a four-night/five-day trip I believe you can visit Baikonur with the proper permission but I’m not sure how feasible it is to see and do what we did independently in the actual space base and launch area TCA: What were the highlights of your trip Gazarian: We saw the cosmonauts a second time for a brief ceremony in the evening I recall a small boy on someone’s shoulders pushed up against the bus window and one of the cosmonauts placing his hand on the other side of the window I got a chill thinking of the magnitude of this situation and the magic that mankind has reached the stars TCA: You have some interesting images on your blog of the experience – like the one you describe of the boy pressed up against the bus window beautiful moment which made you think of the tradition every space launch where the rocket exits the hanger and makes its way down the tracks on its journey to the stars Soyuz rocket MS-08 at Gagarin’s Start TCA: Space embodies cooperation beyond geopolitics and national boundaries; with very strained relations between the West and Russia today does what you viewed at Baikonur inspire hope that we can still work together here on Earth that has been the beauty of these competing and sometimes cooperating programs There has been common ground to combine efforts and collaborate It will be extremely difficult for this previous extensive cooperation to continue into the future; but let us hope TCA: For considerably more money, Baikonur offers the next generation of space tourism in flights into space and living like a cosmonaut for ten days – is that on your bucketlist Gazarian: Of course, these opportunities would be amazing, but a bit beyond my budget. On my bucketlist now is to visit Russia’s newer space base, the Vostochny Cosmodrome This is part two of a three-part special on Baikonur. To read part one, click here To read more about Ric Gazarian’s experience: “Five Days at the Russian Cosmodrome in Baikonur,” click here Russia’s Roscosmos space agency successfully launched a cargo spacecraft toward the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday carrying New Year’s gifts alongside essential supplies A Soyuz-2 rocket carrying the Progress MS-29 cargo ship lifted off from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome at 3:22 p.m The unmanned vessel is set to dock with the ISS at 5:36 p.m on Saturday after spending two days in orbit The spacecraft is delivering nearly 2,500 kilograms of cargo including more than 1,100 kilograms of food It also contains 869 kilograms of refueling fuel Cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin said last week that the Expedition 72 crew on the ISS is eagerly anticipating New Year’s gifts from their families and friends After six months attached to the station’s Poisk module Progress MS-29 will jettison filled with trash and burn up upon re-entering Earth’s atmosphere This marks the seventh launch from Baikonur in 2024 The Kazakh authorities have detained three Spanish citizens and an Australian close to the Russia-owned Baikonur Cosmodrome - a key facility in the Eastern giant's space programme the detainees were accused of attempting to gain unauthorised access to the space station Spain's Foreign Ministry has now confirmed that they have been released The Spanish Embassy in Astana is in contact with them to provide consular assistance but controlled by Russia under a lease agreement It is the oldest spaceport in the world and one of the most strategic ones It is located about 2,500 kilometres from Moscow and has been the scene of historic milestones in space exploration such as the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957 and Yuri Gagarin's voyage in 1961 Baikonur is a closed site with strict security measures it has critical infrastructure such as an oxygen and nitrogen production plant Russia retains control of the base under a lease agreement that will cost it 115 million US dollars per year until 2050 Comentar es una ventaja exclusiva para registrados a trio of cosmonauts and astronauts head off to the International Space Station – then return in small capsules "Baikonur," Alexander Asochakov (as "Gagarin") shows Marie de Villepin (as "Julie") a spacesuit; image: Veit Helmer scavenging and misguided love that was shot within the region TCA spoke to him about filming in this heavily restricted landscape TCA: What was the inspiration behind your film Helmer: I was fascinated by the actual place or what I knew about it; a hidden city with such a glorious past I found out about the scavengers who collect the pieces which fall on the steppe when the rockets are heading to space To tell both stories at the same time intrigued me: space exploration and hunting for scrap metal TCA: Given you also directed Absurdistan and Tuvalu would it be fair to say you’re drawn to far-flung places I love to explore and find locations which haven’t been filmed before But compared to the locations of my previous films – Tuvalu which was shot in Azerbaijan – to travel to Baikonur was a much longer journey “Baikonur,” Alexander Asochakov as “Gagarin” leaving villagers standing near yurt; image: Veit Helmer TCA: As stated in the tagline of your film So goes the unwritten law of the Kazakh seppe A law avidly adhered to by the inhabitants of a small village who collect the space debris that falls downrange from the nearby Baikonur space station.” The village scavengers portrayed in your film are based in reality; how did you find out about them because Roscosmos started to collect the debris themselves and the local villagers’ activity became illegal The new reality was not villages against each other “Baikonur,” Alexander Asochakov as “Gagarin” (center) cleaning assembly hall in Baikonur ; image: Veit Helmer TCA: As a Western filmmaker you were granted a unique opportunity to film within Baikonur – what did you observe of the landscape What were the highlights of this experience Helmer: There was a saying among the early cosmonauts that the Central Asian steppe was for them like a huge ass and in the middle was the hole the superiors from Moscow still come two days before the launch and leave the day after the Earth becomes sacred and humans watch the miracle of two or three people heading to the ISS There is no depiction or description which can evoke what it feels like seeing a rocket taking off and heading into orbit “Baikonur,” Marie de Villepin (as “Julie”) waving good bye in front of rocket; image: Veit Helmer TCA: Did you have any difficulties filming in the area Helmer: We had huge difficulties obtaining the shooting permits One day we weren’t allowed to be inside the commando bunker the following day we weren’t allowed to be outside and we kept flipping the shooting schedule TCA: The scavengers salvaging space scrap in your film depicts the contrast of an ancient nomadic society interacting with the very futuristic space age; how did they interact with each other or were there pitfalls in this arrangement Helmer: We weren’t able to have real scavengers in front of the camera they weren’t collecting the debris anymore as Chinese traders offered them buckets of money for the precious metals We built a village near Kapchagay on a slope There was the infrastructure we needed to accommodate the international crew and cast “Baikonur,” Sitora Farmonova as “Nazira” riding in front of a monument in Baikonur; image: Veit Helmer a location can be seen as a character within the film evoking mood Would you say the actual landscape of Baikonur was a character in your film Helmer: I would say the village we constructed – with real rocket pieces – evoked the clash of the rural peasant lives with the high-tech space era This is part three of a three-part special on Baikonur. To read part one, click here, and to read part two, click here Find out more about Veit Helmer’s “Baikonur” here. It also meant that the rocket series were expected to log at least 15 launches in 2024 Previous page: Soyuz rocket history in 2023 carrying the Soyuz MS-26 crew vehicle to the ISS February 9: Soyuz-2-1v launches classified payload Military personnel in Plesetsk opened the 2024 Russian orbital launch campaigns with the liftoff of a Soyuz-2-1v rocket on February 9 carrying a payload for the Ministry of Defense. It was the 12th mission of the light-weight Soyuz variant since its introduction in 2013 February 15: Progress MS-26 re-supplies the ISS The first Russian mission to the ISS in 2024 carried 2.5 tons of supplies to the international outpost aboard the Progress MS-26 spacecraft Liftoff of the cargo vehicle from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan took place as scheduled in the morning It successfully reached the station in the early hours of February 17 February 29: Soyuz launches a weather satellite and 18 hitchhikers A Soyuz-2-1b rocket lifted off from Vostochny spaceport carrying the Meteor-M2-4 weather spacecraft along with a cluster of secondary payloads including an Iranian micro-satellite for observations of the Earth's surface It was the first mission originating from Vostochny in 2024 March 23: Soyuz MS-25 lifts off a Soyuz-2-1a rocket lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome delivering the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft with a crew of three on its way to the International Space Station March 31: Soyuz launches Resurs-P4 imaging satellite A Soyuz-2-1b rocket lifted off on a mission to revive Russia's prematurely defunct Resurs-P satellite constellation on March 31 The vehicle carried the fourth spacecraft in the series designed to provide the highest-resolution imagery of the Earth's surface among the country's civilian orbital assets May 17: Soyuz-2 launches a classified satellite, secondary payloads Russian military personnel at Plesetsk Cosmodrome launched multiple satellites for the Ministry of Defense and several Russian developers on a Soyuz-2-1b rocket soon after midnight on May 17 May 30: Progress MS-27 Russian specialists at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan launched their second cargo supply mission of 2024 to the International Space Station August 15: Progress MS-28 re-supplies ISS The third Russian cargo supply mission to the International Space Station departed Cosmodrome Baikonur in Kazakhstan in the early hours of August 15 it delivered nearly 2.5 tons of supplies to Expedition 71 aboard the ISS September 11: Soyuz MS-26 lifts off A Soyuz-2-1a rocket lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome sending the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft with a crew of three on its way to the International Space Station October 31: Soyuz launches a military mission A Soyuz-2-1a rocket launched a classified payload from the Plesetsk, north of Moscow, on Oct. 31, 2024, which is believed to be the sixth satellite in the Bars-M series of cartographic satellites November 5: Soyuz-2-1b launches first Ionosfera mission A Soyuz-2-1b rocket lifted off from Vostochny spaceport on Nov carrying the first pair of four Ionosfera spacecraft One of the few Russian space science projects expected to reach the launch pad this decade the Ionosfera quartet aims to monitor "space weather" phenomena such as the impact of solar wind on the near-Earth space The same rocket also carried a cluster of 53 secondary payloads November 21: Soyuz-2-1a launches Progress MS-29 The fourth and final Russian cargo supply mission to the International Space Station lifted off on a Soyuz-2-1a rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on November 21 November 30: Soyuz-2-1a/Fregat launches Kondor-FKA2 radar imager A Soyuz-2 rocket lifted off from Vostochny Cosmodrome on Nov. 30, 2023, carrying the Kondor FKA No. 2 radar satellite. It was the fifth mission to orbit an all-weather, day-and-night imaging spacecraft from the Kondor family, counting one previous FKA variant, one classified military version, known as Neitron, and two original Kondors Russian personnel in Plesetsk launched a military payload on Dec. 4, 2024. A Soyuz-2-1b rocket likely carried a semi-classified satellite known as Lotos-S1 or 14F145. It is the ninth addition to the Liana constellation performing electronic intelligence and target guidance from space for the Russian military December 25: Soyuz launches Resurs-P5 imaging satellite A Soyuz-2-1b rocket lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome on Dec. 25, 2024, carrying the fifth and final satellite in the Resurs-P series. It was the second launch of the dual-use observation satellite during the year and the 2000th mission of the vehicle in the R-7 family Page editor: Alain Chabot; Last update: October 4 Soyuz-2-1v rocket lifts off from Plesetsk on Feb A Soyuz rocket ascends to orbit on May 17 Progress MS-28 lifts off on Aug Space Sarwat NasirFebruary 04 Russia launched its first spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2025 on Friday The Soyuz-2.1a rocket carrying the Progress MS-30 cargo spacecraft lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan shortly after midnight local time according to the Russian space corporation Roscosmos "This marks the first launch of the Progress MS-30 spacecraft in 2025 as well as the first rocket launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome this year," Roscosmos said in a statement The spacecraft is set to deliver 2,599 kilograms (5,729 pounds) of cargo to the ISS it will carry 950 kg of fuel for station refueling 420 liters of drinking water and 50 kg of nitrogen to replenish the station's atmosphere The journey to the ISS is expected to take approximately two days with docking at the Russian Zvezda module scheduled for early Sunday morning A crew of seven is currently aboard the ISS – three Russians and four Americans have been there for more than eight months even though their trip was only supposed to last one week They were stranded after their Boeing Starliner spacecraft suffered a propulsion problem They are expected to return to Earth in March Kazakhstan – A spacecraft carrying three crewmembers from Russia Belarus and the United States is scheduled to launch Saturday to the International Space Station The mission was aborted Thursday with seconds to lift-off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan The scrapped launch was caused by a “voltage drop in the chemical current source,” said Yuri Borisov quoted Borisov as saying the crew is safe and well The Soyuz spacecraft was expected to take about three hours after a launch on Thursday to reach the station where seven people already aboard are awaiting the new arrivals the travel time will be longer and docking is expected to occur on Monday Those heading to the space station are mission commander Oleg Novitsky of Roscosmos (his fourth trip to space) Belarusian Marina Vasilevskaya (her first trip) and NASA’s Tracy Caldwell Dyson (her third) a lieutenant colonel in the Russian Air Force will return to Earth after 12 days on the station a chemist with experience as an electrician and private pilot is scheduled to return to Earth in September and Russian space agencies has continued despite international tension over the war in Ukraine “Russia and the United States are still cooperating in space Russia operates the Baikonur Cosmodrome in southern Kazakhstan The Soviet Union opened the facility in the 1950s Testimonials Previous chapter: Original launch pads for Proton rockets at Site 81 The main processing hall for Proton was designed to have one work place for the assembly of the rocket and another for integrated tests of a fully assembled vehicle A special revolver-like device was developed for the assembly of the Proton's first stage with its central core and six strap-on tanks Site 92 also has MIK-92-2, or "small MIK", which was originally intended for pre-launch processing of Almaz space stations another facility for a storage of as many as 20 Proton rockets was built at Site 92 apparently it was never used to full capacity as the Soviet space program declined at the end of the 1980s 75 A/B/V/G could house 16 fully assembled rockets and Facility No 75Kh could hold four rockets and a pair of spacecraft The facility also included buildings 92-75KhA and 92-75KhG Group 9 existed to maintain all three buildings and their equipment however later it was merged with Group 8 personnel the facility 92A-50 was refurbished enabling parallel processing of two large satellites Next chapter: Residential area (Proton city) at Site 95 75 for as many as 16 Proton rockets in Baikonur Proton with Zvezda leaves the vehicle assembly building No Kazakhstan (Reuters) -A Russian spacecraft safely delivered an American astronaut Jonathan Kim and two Russian cosmonauts to the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday a flight hailed by Moscow as an example of fruitful Russia-U.S US to Demand Russia Accept Ukraine's Right to Its Own Army NATO Chief: Russia Relations Should Be Restored Post-War How Russia's Economy Has Survived Putin's War Monday - Friday 9am-12pm / 2pm-6pm GMT + 1 All financial news and data tailored to specific country editions Baikonur Cosmodrome helped the Soviets reach outer space it's the world's primary spaceport – although its sense of secrecy remains The world's first and most secretive space base sits in the middle of a vast Central Asian desert 2,600km south-east of Moscow and 1,300km from Kazakhstan's two main cities It was from this remote part of the western steppe in 1957 that the Soviet Union successfully launched the first artificial satellite – Sputnik 1 – into orbit around Earth Yuri Gagarin launched from here to become the first human to fly into space aboard the Vostok 1 Valentina Tereshkova launched from Baikonur as the first woman in space After the retirement of Nasa's Space Shuttle programme in 2011 Baikonur became the planet's only working launch site to the International Space Station (ISS) 60 years after Gagarin's historic first flight it remains the world's main spaceport But how and why did a dusty outpost in the wilds of western Kazakhstan become humanity's unlikely gateway to outer space you need two things: to be far away from populated areas; and to be as close to the equator as possible to take advantage of the Earth's rotational speed which is fastest at that contour of the planet went to the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic in search of a remote locale within its borders that could accommodate long-range missile testing and rocket launches The Soviet Union had been experimenting with rocketry since the 1920s and obtained German V-2 rocket technology that significantly boosted its programme The Soviets identified a huge expanse of barren scrubland in the southern Kazakh steppe along the Syr Darya River at a tiny settlement called Tyuratam (or Toretam) There was already a railhead (a basic platform for goods and passengers to load and unload) there built for geologists and prospectors originally looking for oil treeless wasteland with an extreme climate: dust storms were frequent; temperatures soared above 50C in summer; and ice storms blew below -30C in winter desolate land is the last place that astronauts stay before they leave Earth and the first place they see when they return home the Soviet machine went to work bringing in thousands of labourers to build and assemble facilities and a set of launch pads including the biggest artificial crater on the planet: a 250m-long 45m-deep pit designed to harness the inferno of flame and smoke expunged from the world's largest rocket as it launched To throw their American competitors off the scent borrowing the name of another town a few hundred kilometres away and giving it to the cosmodrome and the nearby town In the documentary about his record-breaking stay aboard the ISS, A Year in Space Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly described Baikonur as a kind of halfway house to space: "In some ways it makes a little bit of sense to me to come to a place like this first that is already isolated from what is normal to you because it seems more like it's a stepping stone to someplace that's further isolated one remote place to a more remote place." In his book, Beyond: The Astonishing Story of the First Human to Leave Our Planet and Journey into Space Stephen Walker wrote that control of space was both an ideological quest and a military matter Rockets were first developed to fly into space but government minds quickly realised their potential to carry ballistic missiles that could drop bombs on faraway enemy territory Satellites orbiting Earth could also provide an astronomical view into foreign lands that human spies would have trouble reaching the United States tried to save face on its publicly stalled attempts to get a person into space Soviet secrecy benefitted the USSR's programme If tragedy were to strike during a US launch secrecy offered freedom to take bigger risks and to move faster and with more urgency "The Soviets were protecting their missile site protecting their technology – the R7 missile was the biggest intercontinental ballistic missile in the world at the time People were terrified that the Americans would get hold of this technology With the fall of the Soviet Union in December 1991 Kazakhstan gained independence and suddenly Russia's most important space base was on foreign soil the Russians signed an agreement with Kazakhstan to lease Baikonur at an expense of approximately 7 billion rubles (£82.5 million) a year A growing number of tourists now visit Baikonur to watch launches The town is essentially a Russian exclave surrounded by Kazakhstan and the cosmodrome is a restricted facility operated by Roscosmos Travellers must be on a guided tour arranged through an operator that is certified to apply for a pile of entry permits Elena Matveeva, project manager for Vegitel one of the main tour operators to Baikonur said this is part of the cosmodrome's draw "It gives you an opportunity to visit a unique place you cannot visit by yourself You have to come [through] an authorised tour operator who can [apply for] access clearance." Baikonur comprises both the cosmodrome – a vast 7000-sq-km tract of land with a complex of launchpads and hangars – and the town (formerly Tyuratam) The town of Baikonur is in many ways a perfect relic of the Soviet 1960s Stoic mosaics depicting muscular comrades heralding a new era of space still decorate entrance gates and the walls of the town's functional minimalist cottages where Yuri Gagarin and the early cosmonauts slept the night before they went into space • Qurt: A Kazakh cheese of resilience • The world's largest walnut harvest • The mystery of Central Asia's desert kites Most tourists come specifically to witness a rocket launch. But Gianluca Pardelli, founder and director of Soviet Tours an agency specialising in travel to the former USSR said Baikonur is interesting for its historical and cultural merits "The namesake city next to the cosmodrome is a perfect example of Soviet urban planning in the middle of nowhere – it's this Soviet planned town in the middle of the Kazakh steppe and desert." A typical tour to Baikonur includes visits to launch facilities, including Gagarin's Start, the pad where Yuri first went into space. The Museum of Baikonur Cosmodrome History chronicles the spaceport's storied history: "It has things that you wouldn't find anywhere else in any other space museum in the world," said Walker "It's full of strange artefacts and odds and sods and bits and pieces very much celebrating the glory days of the Soviet space programme." involving a flight to one of Kazakhstan's main cities – Astana or Almaty – followed by an internal flight to the outpost city of Kyzylorda and a four-hour road journey or slow train west across the flatlands to Baikonur you have a choice of an international hotel which also accommodates the astronauts; or a cheaper Tourists attending a launch participate in festivities including watching the roll-out of the Russian Soyuz rocket as it trundles on a specialised rail car from the hangar to the launch pad and a seeing-off ceremony for the astronauts (or cosmonauts as they are known in Russian) as they board a bus to head to the spacecraft seeing the rocket roll-out was the highlight of his visit "You stand right next to the rocket and follow it to Launch Pad No Joy said that travelling to Baikonur was his lifelong dream "I have always wanted to visit Baikonur since I was a young child It was the secret Soviet launch site behind the Iron Curtain." the experience of attending a launch is emotional "It's like a combination of living history and a spectacular event Because when you see the rocket lifting off you're a part of this historical event And somehow you feel that these cosmonauts going to space are so dear to you." In November 2020, American company SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, launched its first Crew Dragon mission, sending a crew to the ISS from Nasa's Kennedy Space Center in Florida It was the first time a crewed mission had launched from the US since the Space Shuttle Discovery in 2010 Russia has also been constructing its own new spaceport But Russia is optimistic about Baikonur's continued operation In an exclusive statement for this article Roscosmos said that the new Vostochny Cosmodrome would not result in a decrease in activities at Baikonur in cooperation with [the] Republic of Kazakhstan is creating the new Baiterek rocket space complex at Baikonur Another important project is the world-famous Gagarin's Start launchpad modernisation for the modern Soyuz-2 launch vehicle operation." Whatever its future as a working spaceport the value of Baikonur as a piece of living history Soviet nostalgia and human cultural heritage is indisputable Beijing and Washington may all be the centres of empires past or present but it was from a dusty railway stop in the middle of the Kazakh steppe that humanity took its first foray into the cosmos Join more than three million BBC Travel fans by liking us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter and Instagram If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter called "The Essential List". A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Culture, Worklife and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday. {"image":{"pid":""}} The tiny German island with a population of 16During the winter, islanders must cope with extreme weekly floods. The island tradition firing up a gender rowOut on Scotland's remote Shetland Islands, a famous Viking festival is firing up a strange battle for equality. 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Russia is preparing for the first launch of its new Soyuz-5 medium-lift rocket according to the protocol of the Russian-Kazakh intergovernmental commission which will be capable of carrying up to 17 tonnes of payload into low Earth orbit will be launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan This launch site was previously used for Zenit rocket launches The development of the Soyuz-5 is part of a broader collaboration between Russia and Kazakhstan with Russia developing the rocket and Kazakhstan enhancing the launch complex under the joint Baiterek project Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that Moscow anticipates the first launch from the upgraded Baikonur site in 2025 This new rocket represents a significant advancement in Russia’s space capabilities as it is designed to meet the growing demand for medium-class payload launches and website in this browser for the next time I comment Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan has been the launch site for Soviet and Russian space missions since the beginning of space exploration in 1957 The first satellite and the first human flew into space from there the site is heavily used for Soyuz astronaut launches to the International Space Station The site has mostly been used to launch Soviet Union and Russian cosmonauts some American and European astronauts started to launch there as well After the space shuttle program retired in 2011 NASA shifted to having all of its astronauts fly from Baikonur until the new Commercial Crew Program is ready to launch astronauts Test flights for the program are currently expected in 2018 or 2019 so around the 2020s fewer American launches are expected from Baikonur which is eventually expected to take over many of the launches of Baikonur The Kazakh and Russian governments work together on the maintenance and operations of Baikonur with Russia paying at least $115 million annually to lease the land the two countries have had some disputes over how to manage the space complex over the decades While its average temperature is 55 degrees Fahrenheit (13 degrees Celsius) NASA says its temperatures can range from minus 40 F (minus 40 C) in winter to 113 F (45 C) in summer "The name Baikonur is misleading," NASA wrote of the complex "The former Soviet Union used the name and coordinates of a small mining town to describe the location of its rocket complex the launch complex is about 322 kilometers (200 miles) southwest of the mining town near Tyuratam in Kazakhstan This misrepresentation was done intentionally to hide the actual location of the launch complex the launch complex is still referred to as Baikonur." The reasons for choosing what is now known as Baikonur are complex but one major factor (according to Zak) appears to be the existence of a rail spur connected with what was then called the Kazakhstanskaya Railroad Construction started in 1955 in high secrecy; by 1957 the United States was aware of an ICBM site in the area and had U-2 aircraft scanning the zone even from the families of disaster victims 1963); the first flight to carry two people (Voskhod 1 1964) and the first crewed launch to a space station (Soyuz 11 Baikonur also was the launch site for two fatal missions; Soyuz 11's three cosmonauts (Georgy Dobrovolsky Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev) died during re-entry and the parachute failed to deploy during the first re-entry of the Soyuz spacecraft (Soyuz 1) in 1967 The N-1 program underwent four test launches between 1969 and 1972 The Soviets have launched missions to many space stations over the decades, starting with the fatal Soyuz 11 flight to Salyut 1 (the first space station) in 1967 the Soviet Union began opening its flights to other nations in 1978 under the Interkosmos program which saw participating Soyuz astronauts from more than a dozen other nations through the late 1980s continuing to launch astronauts after more than four decades of operating different versions of the spacecraft The Soviets created their own space shuttle which flew autonomously from Baikonur in 1988 on top of an Energia rocket in part because the Soviet Union was running short on funds ahead of its collapse in 1991 The flown Buran prototype was stored in a hangar at Baikonur where it remained until a roof collapse at the aging facility in 2002 The prototype was reportedly destroyed in the collapse NASA docked at Mir using the space shuttle a vehicle it used for spaceflight between 1981 and 2011.  Shuttle-Mir (as the joint program was called) was a precursor to learning to work together for the International Space Station program Some observers say the Shuttle-Mir program also allowed the U.S government to financially stabilize the Russian space program during a difficult time The first American to fly into space on a Soyuz spacecraft was Norman Thagard The United States retired its aging space shuttle program in 2011 by which time several Americans had flown into space on Soyuz To fill the gap until commercial flights began the United States paid for seats on the Soyuz for all astronauts going to the International Space Station for the U.S The Commercial Crew Program is expected to run test flights in 2018 and 2019 and as it moves into operations The date for commercial crew operations has been pushed back several years; when the space shuttle first retired in 2011 NASA expected that SpaceX and Boeing could start launching astronauts from U.S NASA's Office of the Inspector General issued a 2016 report noting the additional costs the commercial crew delays incurred.  Business Insider reported in an article about the OIG's work that Roscosmos used to charge NASA as little as $21.8 million per seat in 2008 that price was expected to go up 372 percent to $81 million per astronaut "Had the agency met its original goal of securing commercial crew transportation by calendar year 2015 NASA could have avoided paying Russia close to $1 billion for Soyuz seats in 2017 and 2018 even factoring in the purchase of some seats in 2016 to cover the expected transition period," the OIG report stated Some of the major locations at Baikonur today, according to Zak The countries have had some disputes over Baikonur maintenance and operations in the decades since, according to Zak. In September 2007 causing the country's government to ban all Proton rockets for two months — as well as to ask Russia for $61 million in compensation.  Since Baikonur has no large body of water nearby rocket stages fall in the desert surrounding it in a designated drop zone Vladimir Popkovin (the head of the Russian space agency) told Russia's parliament that Kazakhstan had removed its ban on launching Russian ballistic missiles Kazakhstan and Russia briefly butted heads over creating a new drop zone in the northwest of Kazakhstan to accommodate launches such as for the satellites Meteor-2 and Kanopus.  In 2013, the New York Times reported that about 70 percent of Baikonur's residents were actually Kazakh citizens only about one-third of the population was Kazakh The Times reported that Baikonur's city is behind on maintenance because the lease is seen as temporary and there are ethnic tensions as well as issues with labor and drugs In June 2017, a worker from Russia's NPO Mashinostroyenia rocket and space company died while attempting to stop a brush fire in the desert The fire started after a stage of a Russian Soyuz-2.1a rocket fell nearby Kazakhstan — even though it owns these platforms — will only be able to operate them through joint projects with Russia Kazakhstan will have to spend about $245 million to upgrade the infrastructure of the launch pads The two countries are attempting to pursue partnerships in regard to the upcoming Soyuz 5 and Phoenix rockets which are reportedly scheduled to start launches for 2022 and 2035 Russia and Kazakhstan have had other disputes concerning Baikonur over the years This included disputes that eventually derailed a joint space launch complex for the Angara rocket Russia and Kazakhstan will likely work together at least until the lease is complete "Russia's upcoming transfer of certain Baikonur launch facilities to Kazakhstan will make the two countries' space programs even more dependent on each other," it wrote Russia has wanted to return rocket launches to its own soil for decades; the country previously considered a cosmodrome called Svobodny but the project failed due to a lack of funds Talk of building a new complex only resumed after soaring oil prices buoyed the Russian economy That's four times higher than the original projected cost of $1.9 billion Commercial competitor SpaceX had 16 launches in 2017 Russia had more launches than SpaceX (17) but only one-third of them for customers outside of the Russian government Russia is developing a Soyuz-5 booster that is expected to be ready in 2021 Elizabeth HowellFormer Staff Writer Spaceflight (July 2022-November 2024)Elizabeth Howell (she/her) was a staff writer in the spaceflight channel between 2022 and 2024 specializing in Canadian space news She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years from 2012 to 2024 Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House leading world coverage about a lost-and-found space tomato on the International Space Station witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents and participating in a simulated Mars mission 2022) is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams.  US House space committee wants a standard lunar clock Parliament in Kazakhstan has approved an extension on Russia’s lease on the Baikonur space launch facility through to 2050 but with added conditions to limit dangers to the environment Presenting the agreement to parliament on May 12, Digital Development and Aerospace Industry Ministry Bagdat Musin said that Russia has committed to cutting the number of launches of its heavy-lift Proton launcher and that it will cease using the craft altogether by 2026 The minister said a number of checks will now be run at launch time These will include exams of soil samples around the site and health checkups on local residents Animals and plants around the landing site of booster stages which typically fall back to earth before the rocket reaches orbit will be studied for any possible ill-effects Kazakhstan earns around $115 million annually in rent for Baikonur Musin said the country has made more than $3 billion off the facility over a 27-year period Evaluating the ecological damage wrought by Baikonur is more complicated, however. Over the years since it has been renting the facility, Russia has conducted more than 100 Proton-M rocket launches sometimes leading to large amounts of toxic rocket fuel being spilled over large areas of the Kazakh steppe the chair of the lower house of parliament said that one priority was to amend the compensation mechanism for damage caused in such incidents But it is an unavoidable problem that Russia is in no hurry to be held accountable Deputy Foreign Minister Marat Syzdykov said in parliament that although an existing agreement does make Russia liable for financial penalties the bureaucratic procedure makes the whole process a drawn-out one.  An accident with a Soyuz FG launch vehicle in 2018 led to 22 tons of rocket fuel being spilled but Russia has still paid out no compensation citing the lack of direct evidence that any damage had been caused Almaz Kumenov is an Almaty-based journalist Sign up for Eurasianet's free weekly newsletter. Support Eurasianet: Help keep our journalism open to all Defense Security Monitor A Forecast International blog about the arms trade The government of Kazakhstan has impounded all assets belonging to Russia at the Baikonur Cosmodrome the importance of Baikonur to Roscosmos and the Russian space-faring community cannot be overstated but rather a move to hold assets in the name of the law the Russian government has failed to pay roughly $30 million in fees from the “dirty” rockets that Russia continues to employ which have adverse environmental effects on the country there has been a dramatic reduction in Proton (the main “dirty” culprit using nitrogen tetroxide and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine) launches overall a follow-on rocket and specifically the A5 variant it is likely that Angara has been placed on the back burner and Proton will continue as Russia’s heavy-lift launch vehicle Baikonur is not some backwater launch site Sputnik and Russia’s  first crewed mission with astronaut Yuri Gagarin launched from Baikonur facilities and missions to the International Space Station (ISS) all launch from there as well Baikonur was within the frontiers of the USSR but after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 the facility fell and now falls within the borders of Kazakhstan Russia has leased the Baikonur site from Kazakhstan since 1994 The impounding of Russian assets will hinder launches for now One would think that for the Russian Federation this is likely a political move of the part of Kazakhstan even the Kazakh Communications Minister said that this was a “diplomatic miscalculation.”  Whether Russia just pays the $30 million in order to be done with it will soon be found out Russian crewed missions to the ISS (the astronauts of countries besides Russia are often along for the ride) are only conducted from Baikonur How this will all play out remains to be seen Carter Palmer has long held a keen interest in military matters and aviation As an analyst for Industrial & Marine Turbine Forecast Carter specializes in examining key gas turbine programs for electrical power generation He is also responsible for updating the reports and analyses within the Space Systems Forecast – Launch Vehicles & Manned Platforms and Space Systems Forecast – Satellites & Spacecraft products Forecast International’s International Military Markets service provides a country-by-country examination of the military capabilities The individual country reports are structured to condense a vast range of information into concise segments and military postures – all are detailed in these six services broken out by region (click each title for more details) Click here to learn more. Privacy Policy And no NASA personnel or assets are currently at the spaceport which launches crews to the International Space Station The current chaos in Kazakhstan isn't seriously impacting the famous spaceport in the nation Related: Russia's space centers and launch sites in pictures "The situation in Baikonur is normal; all the law enforcement agencies are routinely working," the Roscosmos Press Service told Space.com via email regularly reports on the situation around Baikonur to Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin." NASA astronauts are fairly regular visitors to Baikonur; they've launched toward the International Space Station (ISS) aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft from the site many times over the years.  Indeed, the Soyuz was the only ride to orbit available to astronauts for nearly a decade after NASA retired its space shuttle fleet in 2011. That changed in 2020, when SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule began flying missions to the ISS from Florida (Aerospace giant Boeing is also working to get its own astronaut taxi But no NASA personnel or assets are currently at Baikonur so the agency isn't directly affected by the current situation in Kazakhstan agency spokesperson Dan Huot told Space.com via email.  What's happening in Kazakhstan matters in the bigger picture from the humanitarian to the political.  "The protests are also significant as Kazakhstan has been aligned with Russia views the country — a body double of sorts for Russia in terms of its economic and political systems — as part of Russia's sphere of influence." 10 must-have 'Star Wars' books and novels coming soon to your galaxy reports began to circulate that Kazakhstan had seized the property of Roscosmos at the Baikonur Cosmodrome This has raised questions regarding launch operations from the spaceport including important crew and cargo logistics flights for the International Space Station (ISS) it is likely that the development of the Soyuz-5 rocket as well as liquid oxygen and nitrogen production are larger concerns as a result of the recent legal action Not all of the property of Roscosmos was seized. The lawsuit was filed by Kazakhstan against TsENKI (Centre for Operation of Space Ground-based Infrastructure), an organization that manages only the ground-based infrastructure of Roscosmos and other pieces of equipment were not seized They can be launched into space as scheduled since there are no restrictions on the use of ground-based equipment was filed by “Joint Kazakh-Russian Enterprise Baiterek” to the “Center for the Operation of Ground-based Space Infrastructure Facilities” (TsENKI) The amount of the claim is 13.5 billion tenge The official reason for filing the claim is the non-fulfillment by the Russian side of its obligations under the contract for the construction of the Baiterek complex According to the requirements of the Kazakh side Russia had to conduct an environmental impact assessment of the planned Soyuz-5 rocket for this launch complex and did not neither TsENKI nor Roscosmos have sufficient funds to pay for the assessment Their funding depends on the Russian government and thus the assessment also requires permission from the Russian government Baiterek is a joint project of Russia and Kazakhstan to modernize Site 45 the launch complex of Zenit rockets produced by Russia and Ukraine It was assumed that this rocket could also be launched from Odyssey the former Sea Launch platform purchased by the private Russian airline S7 that has been stored in the Far East for several years S7 pays huge amounts of money annually to store the platform but the rocket that Roscosmos has promised is still in the design stage the rocket is still in the preliminary design stage The rocket was planned to be used for international commercial launches and provide a revenue stream but the sanctions imposed by the United States on Russia after the annexation of Crimea do not allow launching satellites containing American parts on Russian rockets This means that Soyuz-5 no longer has commercial potential and the market for its use is very limited See AlsoSoyuz-5 DiscussionRussian Launchers SectionL2 Russian SectionClick here to Join L2 This forced the Kazakh authorities to evaluate the expediency of further financing of the Baiterek project it was a project signed by the former President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev prompting the former head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin to rename it “Nazarbayev’s Start.” It appears that the Kazakh side may be looking for a way to get out of the project without a quarrel with the Russian side and they found a formal reason to slow down cooperation The seizure of TsENKI’s property is only a consequence of deep contradictions in the Baiterek project which is no longer beneficial to Kazakhstan The Progress MS-22 mission lifts off from Baikonur on a Soyuz-2.1a rocket in February 2023 The heads of TsENKI and the lawyers of Roscosmos went to Kazakhstan to settle issues with the property of the organization Even though this seizure does not threaten Russian launches from Baikonur it creates many other problems in the work of the cosmodrome there is an Oxygen-Nitrogen plant on Baikonur that produces high-purity liquid oxygen and nitrogen They are needed as components of rocket propellant the export of the plant’s products is prohibited and this is just one example of the impact on Roscomos’ infrastructure the current situation does not threaten the launches of Soyuz and Progress ships on Soyuz-2 launch vehicles from the Baikonur cosmodrome to the ISS but creates significant inconveniences to the work of TsENKI The more prominent effect is that this decision practically puts an end to the Baiterek project and the development of the Soyuz-5 rocket because the rocket has little commercial prospects (Lead photo: A Zenit rocket vertical at Site 45 the complex slated for modernization for Soyuz-5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in November 2011 A Soyuz rocket is ready to boost Russia’s Progress MS-18 supply ship into orbit Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan setting course for a two-day chase of the International Space Station The liquid-fueled launcher is scheduled to lift off from the Site 31 launch complex at Baikonur at 8:00:32 p.m EDT Wednesday (0000:32 GMT Thursday) to begin a nearly nine-minute climb into orbit located in a remote section of Kazakhstan east of the Aral Sea Ground teams at Baikonur transferred the Soyuz-2.1a rocket to its launch pad at sunrise Monday aboard a rail car then raised the vehicle vertical with a hydraulic lift Gantry arms swung into position at the pad giving workers access to the rocket for final inspections and closeouts Russian officials plan to meet a few hours before liftoff to give approval for technicians to load kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants into the Soyuz rocket An automated countdown sequencer will send commands for pressurization of the launcher in the final minutes before liftoff The Soyuz rocket will take off with nearly a million pounds of thrust The launch is timed for the moment Earth’s rotation brings the Baikonur Cosmodrome under the International Space Station’s orbital track the Soyuz third stage engine will deliver the Progress MS-18 cargo freighter into orbit at T+plus 8 minutes the Progress supply ship will detach from the Soyuz rocket then immediately unfurl its power-generating solar arrays and navigation antennas to help guide the unpiloted craft toward the space station Burns using the 23.6-foot-long (7.2-meter) spacecraft’s small rocket thrusters will allow the Progress to match the orbit of the space station setting up for a radar-guided rendezvous and docking with the Russian segment’s Zvezda service module at 9:34 p.m The Progress MS-18 spacecraft will link up with the rear docking port on Zvezda With the help of cosmonauts on the station Russian engineers have traced a small air leak on the station to the transfer compartment leading to Zvezda’s rear port The compartment has been sealed from the rest of the space station since the departure of a previous Progress spacecraft from the rear docking port in April But cosmonauts will re-open the compartment to unload cargo delivered by the Progress MS-18 spacecraft The mission is the 79th Russian Progress supply craft to launch toward the International Space Station since 2000 said the Progress MS-18 spacecraft will deliver around 5,377 pounds (2,439 kilograms) of supplies to the station Russian ground teams loaded 3,327 pounds (1,509 kilograms) of dry cargo into the Progress freighter’s pressurized compartment The space agency said the mission carries 1,036 pounds (470 kilograms) of propellant to refuel Zvezda module’s propulsion system 926 pounds (420 kilograms) of fresh drinking water and 88 pounds of compressed gas to replenish the space station’s breathing air The launch of the Progress MS-18 supply ship this week follows the relocation of the Progress MS-17 cargo craft last week from one space station docking port to another Progress MS-17 moved to a docking port on Russia’s Nauka lab module to help perform leak checks of the module’s propulsion system Progress MS-17 will undock from the space station next month to clear the way for arrival of another new Russian module NASA is gearing up to launch four astronauts to the space station Sunday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida The crew will ride a SpaceX Dragon capsule to the station to begin a six-month expedition in orbit replacing an outgoing team of astronauts scheduled to return to Earth in early November Email the author Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1 three people will rocket into space from a cosmodrome in Kazakhstan that has a fascinating history But with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox The first American to fly into space on a Russian spacecraft (The Soyuz is manufactured in Russia but launches from Kazakhstan after being brought there by rail.) who have their own separate launch facilities.) allowing American astronauts to once again launch from U.S And Baikonur may also fade from Russian importance after the lease expires in 2050 and the country eventually aims to launch crewed missions from that site although the exact timing hasn't been disclosed Originally published on Live Science Doomed Soviet spacecraft tumbling toward Earth may already have its parachute out, new images hint Doomed Soviet satellite from 1972 will tumble uncontrollably to Earth next week — and it could land almost anywhere Secret 'drug room' full of psychedelic 'snuff tubes' discovered at pre-Inca site in Peru Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Kate Holton