The world ’ s first spaceport for orbital and human launches, the Baikonur Cosmodrome in southern Kazakhstan, started as a Soviet military rocket range in 1955.

Baikonur Cosmodrome has a small museum, located right next to two small cottages, once residences of Sergey Korolev and Yuri Gagarin.

The original Baikonur ( Kazakh for " wealthy brown ", i. e. " fertile land with many herbs ") is a mining town a few hundred kilometres northeast of the present location, near Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan's Karagandy Province.

On 9 April 1960, a U-2C spyplane of the special Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) unit " 10-10 ," piloted by Bob Ericson, crossed the southern national boundary of the Soviet Union in the area of Pamir Mountains and flew over four Soviet top secret military objects: the Semipalatinsk Test Site, the Dolon Air Base where Tu-95 strategic bombers were stationed, the Surface-to-Air Missile ( SAM ) test site of the Soviet Air Defence Forces near Saryshagan, and the Tyuratam missile range ( Baikonur Cosmodrome ).

Claims were made in the aerospace press that objects were laid out at the Baikonur Cosmodrome to photograph to test a high-resolution camera system on board.

The Baikonur Cosmodrome achieved the first launch of a human into space ( Yuri Gagarin ) in 1961.

The three-member Expedition 1 crew successfully launched on 31 October 2000, at 07: 52 UTC, atop a Soyuz-U rocket on Soyuz TM-31 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan ; they used launch pad Gagarin's Start, from which the first human to fly in space, Yuri Gagarin, was launched in 1961.

Several important military facilities were also located in the region, including nuclear testing facilities and the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

He is reporting back to ( the Baikonur ground station ) and must be starting to move out of radio range of that station.

The cosmonauts are said to have observed targets set out on the ground at Baikonur.

* Tested at " ground No 51 " at NIIP-5 ( Baikonur / Tura-Tam ) until crash in October 1962.

* 1973 – Soviet Soyuz Programme: Soyuz 13, crewed by cosmonauts Valentin Lebedev and Pyotr Klimuk, is launched from Baikonur in the Soviet Union.

The European Space Agency's Mars Express probe launches from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.

* 2005 – The Venus Express mission of the European Space Agency is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Sputnik 1 was launched during the International Geophysical Year from Site No. 1 / 5, at the 5th Tyuratam range, in Kazakh SSR ( now at the Baikonur Cosmodrome ).

* 06: 07 UT Launch occurs from the Baikonur Cosmodrome Site No. 1.

I'm continuing the flight ..." Vostok 1 is moving further downrange from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

* November 20 – A Russian Proton rocket is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying the first segment of the International Space Station, the 21 ton Zarya Module.

* March 14 – Astronaut Norman Thagard becomes the first American to ride into space aboard a Russian launch vehicle ( the Soyuz TM-21 ), lifting off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

** The Soviet Union successfully launches the Luna 1 spacecraft from Baikonur Cosmodrome.

* November 16 – Venera program: The Soviet Union launches the Venera 3 space probe from Baikonur, Kazakhstan toward Venus ( on March 1, 1966 it became the first spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet ).

* April 25 – Soyuz TM-34: South African Mark Shuttleworth blasts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome ; he had paid £ 15 million for the trip.

* In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode " Up the Long Ladder ", the DY-500 class S. S. Mariposa was said to have launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on November 27, 2123.

Sputnik 1 was launched during the International Geophysical Year from Site No. 1 / 5, at the 5th Tyuratam range, in Kazakh SSR ( now at the Baikonur Cosmodrome ).

On October 2, 1991 he launched with Russian cosmonaut Alexander Volkov as flight commander, and the Austrian research cosmonaut Franz Viehböck in Soyuz TM-13 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome spaceport, and spent over eight days in space.

Currently Soyuz vehicles are launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northwest Russia and, starting in 2011, Soyuz launch vehicles can now also be launched from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana.

Luna 1 was launched 2 January 1959 at 16: 41 GMT ( 19: 41 Moscow Time ) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by a Luna 8K72 rocket.

Soyuz 1 was launched on April 23, 1967 at 00: 32 UTC from Baikonur Cosmodrome, making Komarov the first Soviet cosmonaut to fly in space twice.

Radarsat-2 was launched on December 14, 2007 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan

Soyuz spacecraft are launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

For example, the Proton M uses a set of four intermediate orbits, requiring five rocket firings, to place a satellite into GEO from the high-inclination site of Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan.

The first testing of the new missile, codenamed 8K71, was on 15 May 1957 from Baikonur Cosmodrome.

A modified version of the missile ( 8K71PS ) placed Sputnik 1 in orbit from Baikonur on 4 October and Sputnik 2 on 3 November.

A single launch pad was operational at Baikonur and from six to eight were in operation at Plesetsk.

Currently, all manned Russian spaceflights are launched from Baikonur.

He also the first Soviet citizen to go into space without being fully certified as a cosmonaut, as his flight was hurried forward — several commercial international cosmonauts were already booked, but the flight of a Kazakh cosmonaut was part of the Baikonur rental agreement between Kazakhstan and Russia.

It was decided on Cosmonaut's Day ( 12 April ) 1985 to ship the flight model of the base block to the Baikonur cosmodrome and conduct the systems testing and integration there.

His flight began on April 7, when he launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, aboard Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft, together with Oleg Kotov and space tourist Charles Simonyi.

Polyus was launched May 15, 1987 from Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 250 as part of the first flight of the Energia system, but failed to reach orbit.

Launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard the maiden flight of the Soyuz carrier rocket, Kosmos 133 was planned " all up " test, to include an automated docking with a second Soyuz ( Soyuz 7K-OK No. 1 ), which was scheduled for launch the day after Kosmos 133.

On 14 May 1981, at 20: 16, Soviet spaceship Soyuz-40 was launched from Baikonur to perform a common Romanian-Soviet flight, with Lieutenant Dumitru Prunariu and Colonel Leonid Popov as commander on board.