A BRIEF HISTORY OF BAIKONUR
- Paper ID
IAF-94-IAA.2.1.614
- author
- company
Société Européenne de Propulsion
- country
France
- year
1994
- abstract
On 4 October 1957, for the first time, a man-made object was placed in orbit round the Earth. The object was Sputnik I, and it was Soviet-made. A few months later it was learnt that the satellite had been launched from a hitherto-unknown place in the steppes of Kazakhstan, Baikonur. For nearly forty years now, most important space events have originated in Baikonur. Substantial investments have made this isolated spot in the Kazakh steppes the biggest civilian and military launching base in the world. Today, now that the East-West confrontation is over and the Soviet Union has broken up, the political and economic difficulties of the former Soviet republics are having major effects on the future of the CIS's space programmes and even on that of Baikonur which, it must be remembered, is in Kazakhstan, whereas it is used by Russians. Without in any way trying to forecast this future, now that Baikonur is open to foreigners it is interesting to tell the story of the birth, life, greatness and misfortunes of this Mecca of the world's history of space travel.