Plesetsk Cosmodrome () is a Russian spaceport, located in Arkhangelsk Oblast, about 800 km north of Moscow and approximately 200 km south of Arkhangelsk.

Yemtsa () is an urban locality ( an urban-type settlement ) in Plesetsky District of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, located north of Plesetsk and south of Arkhangelsk.

* 2005 – The SSETI Express micro-satellite is successfully launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome.

Plesetsk Cosmodrome is situated in the taiga

Plesetsk is used especially for military satellites placed into high inclination and polar orbits since the range for falling debris is clear to the north which is largely uninhabited Arctic and polar terrain.

Plesetsk is not ideally suited for low inclination or geostationary launches because of its high latitude of 62 degrees north ( as compared to the Guiana Space Centre at 5 ° north or the Kennedy Space Center at around 28 ° north ).

Still, the new all-Russian Angara rocket is designed to be launched primarily from Plesetsk when it comes into service.

The vast Plesetsk Cosmodrome territory is located nearby and is administered from the town of Mirny which is away from Plesetsk.

Plestsy is the name for a small lake which Plesetsk adjoins.

Plesetsk is divided into:

Plesetsk is located on the road connecting Kargopol with one of the principal highways in Russia, M8 between Moscow and Arkhangelsk ( the highways meet in the village of Brin-Navolok ).

Plesetsk ( Plesetskaya railway station ) is located on the railway line between Moscow and Arkhangelsk ( built in the south-north direction ).

From Plesetsk, a railway line to the west, connecting to Severoonezhsk, Undozero and Yangory is one of the biggest railways in Russia which does not belong to the Russian Railways.

The district hospital is located in Plesetsk.

There is a road to the north, which connects to M8 via Plesetsk and Brin-Navolok.

The source of the Yemtsa is in Plesetsky District, north-west of the settlement of Plesetsk and several kilometers east of the Onega River ( which does not belong to the Northern Dvina basin ).

The urban-type settlement of Plesetsk in Arkhangelsk Oblast had a railway station, essential for the transport of missile components.

In 1937, Northern Oblast was split into Arkhangelsk Oblast and Vologda Oblast, and Plesetsk remains the center of Plesetsky District of Arkhangelsk Oblast.

In a high-profile case of foreign espionage, the FSB said in February 2012 that an engineer working at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia's main space center for military launches, had been convicted to 13 years in prison on charges of state treason.

This secret object had to be situated in Plesetsk District, Arhangelsk Oblast.

The closed canopy boreal forest in Kenozyorsky National Park near Plesetsk, Arkhangelsk Province, Russia, on average has 108 frost-free days.

It belonged at the trading routes connecting central and northern Russia: first, from Moscow to the White Sea along the Onega River, and then, after 1765, along the newly built road between Saint-Petersburg and Arkhangelsk, which still exists and passes Kargopol and Plesetsk.

There are only four bridges across the Onega: one in Kargopol on the road connecting Kargopol to Nyandoma, one in the village of Sorokinskaya, on Onezhsky Trakt, the road connecting Kargopol to Plesetsk and Yemetsk, one combined road and railway bridge connecting Oksovsky and Severoonezhsk, and one railway bridge in Porog on the railway from Arkhangelsk to Belomorsk ( no road traffic ).

The first strategic-missile unit became operational on 9 February 1959 at Plesetsk in north-west Russia.

* 1980 – At Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia, 50 people are killed by an explosion of a Vostok-2M rocket on its launch pad during a fueling operation.

* March 18 – Fifty people are killed at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia, when a Vostok-2M rocket explodes on its launch pad during a fueling operation.

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.

The first strategic-missile unit became operational on 9 February 1959 at Plesetsk in north-west Russia.

One of the earliest launches of CubeSats was 30 June 2003 from Plesetsk, Russia, with Eurockot Launch Services's Multiple Orbit Mission.

Marshal Nikolai Ogarkov, Soviet Chief of General Staff cancelled the September 1, 1983 test flight of the RT-2PM Topol which was to be launched from Plesetsk ( the launch site in northwest Russia used for test firing of solid fuel propellant ICBMs )- 24 minutes later to land in the Klyuchi target area on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

Another test was conducted on October 12, 2008 when a Topol was launched from the Plesetsk test site in northern Russia.

The GRACE satellites were launched from Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia on a Rockot ( SS-19 + Breeze upper stage ) launch vehicle, on March 17, 2002.

Launched from the Plesetsk, Russia, facility near the White Sea, on August 15, 1991, Meteor-3 TOMS had a unique orbit that presents special problems for processing data.

CryoSat was launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia on October 8, 2005, using a Rockot launcher.

GOCE was launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia with a Rockot vehicle at 15: 21 CET ( 14: 21 UT ).

* 1959 – The R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile, becomes operational at Plesetsk, USSR.

* 1973 – At Plesetsk Cosmodrome 9 people are killed in an explosion of a Cosmos 3-M rocket.

On 15 December 1959 the R-7 missile was tested at Plesetsk for the first time.

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

The Soyuz rocket, Cosmos-3M, Rockot, and Tsyklon are launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome.

Plesetsk Cosmodrome was originally developed by the Soviet Union as a launch site for intercontinental ballistic missiles under the leadership and supervision of Lieutenant General Galaktion Alpaidze.

It was named after the town of Plesetsk.

March 17, 1966, was the space birthday of Plesetsk.

Since that time the rocket base Angara has become cosmodrome Plesetsk.

The existence of Plesetsk Cosmodrome was originally kept secret, but it was discovered by British physics teacher Geoffrey Perry and his students, who carefully analyzed the orbit of the Cosmos 112 satellite in 1966 and deduced it had not been launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome.

After the end of the Cold War it was learned that the CIA had begun to suspect the existence of an ICBM launch site at Plesetsk in the late 1950s.

The Soviet Union did not officially admit the existence of Plesetsk Cosmodrome until 1983.

The Iranian satellite Sina 1 was launched from Plesetsk Cosmodrome on 27 October 2005.