Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft blasting off the launch pad at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
| Photo Credit: AFP
The Baikonur cosmodrome is a spaceport in Kazakhstan that Russia leases and operates as the site of its space launches. It was built in the 1950s first as a missile test range before becoming the centre of the Soviet space programme. The R-7 rocket launched Sputnik 1 in 1957 and Vostok 1 in 1961, which carried Yuri Gagarin on the first human spaceflight, from here. Later missions from here launched other cosmonauts, space station modules, and interplanetary probes.
The cosmodrome is located on the Kazakh steppe and contains launch complexes, assembly buildings, tracking stations, and housing. Its facilities can accommodate the Proton and Soyuz rockets and cargo ships intended for the International Space Station. It has two crewed-launch pads: Site 1 and Site 31/6, which now handles Soyuz flights. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan retained ownership of the site and agreed to lease it to Russia under agreements that run until 2050.
Baikonur has also seen accidents. In 1960, an R-16 missile exploded on the pad in an event called the Nedelin catastrophe, and many people were killed. Just last week, during the Soyuz MS-28 mission on November 27, the launch of a Soyuz-2.1a rocket damaged Site 31/6, bringing down a service platform into the flame trench and forcing authorities to suspend crewed operations.
Engineers are currently assessing the damage and plan repairs so that later missions can continue to launch from Kazakhstan while Russia develops other launch sites on its territory.
Published – November 29, 2025 06:21 pm IST
