Talk:Baikonur Cosmodrome

Old talk

During the Soviet period, the complex was operated almost exclusively by residents of Russia and created very little benefit for the Kazakh economy -- 1. People who operated the complex had to live there which effectively makes them residents of Kazakh SSR. 2. Back in Soviet times there was no such thing as a Kazakh, Russian, Latvian, etc. economy. So the second part of the sentence makes no sense either. I am removing it. Whoever wrote it in the first place, do you think it's an apparently NPOV way of saying Evil (ethnic) Russians came and built this polluting monster on Kazakh soil and no (ethnic) Kazakh ever benefitted from it? -- apoivre 15:46, 21 May 2004 (UTC)~

I second that, but for different reasons. (1) Where did you see cosmodromes contribute to economy? Ususlly they gobble nation's resources, probably making contractors rich. (2) While it was "operated" by Russians (who provided skilled labor) but someone else fed them, dressed them, delivered them fuel, machine parts (and pretty Kazakh girls), removed garbage, etc. In better times all this alone could have made the "placeholder" rich (And I have no slightest doubt that a couple of Kazakh "bais" did some black profit). Mikkalai 16:50, 21 May 2004 (UTC)

The Kvaleberg co-ordinates in the top right corner of the page, refer to Baikonur staff village and not the cosmodrome proper Paul venter 16:19, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

I doubt that the coordinates of the launchsite are correct. I looked them up on google earth, and I found the launchpad of the N-1 rocket and the Energia rocket. The launchsite of Youri Gagarin, I think, is more to the east, 45°55'12.60"N, 63°20'36.01"E. It is still used today for the launch of the Soyuz space ship. If someone can confirm that, it can be changed in the article. Ckiki lwai 00:02, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

You're all forgetting that no one made profit in the U.S.S.R. 96.55.183.132 (talk) 22:19, 29 September 2011 (UTC)

В пожаре по официальным по официальным данным, погибло 74 человека. Позже от ожогов и ран скончались ещё четверо (по другим данным погибло от 92 до 126 человек),цифры есть но 100 еще не доказано Цйфыву (talk) 20:46, 22 November 2022 (UTC)

this is about the Nedelinsky catastrophe, and Tobonov is a scientist with his own opinion, very controversial, with which other scientists and public figures do not agree Цйфыву (talk) 20:50, 22 November 2022 (UTC)

WikiProject class rating

This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 05:04, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

WIkiality

That dispute has prompted Russia to begin upgrading its own Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk Oblast of Northern Russia as a fallback option.

The above statement isn't sourced. It's 100% pure speculation. And most probably wholly untrue. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.149.140.187 (talk) 13:32, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure about this statement either; it was probably based on rumours, so I removed it. I replaced it with a statement regarding the Vostochny Cosmodrome, sourced by an interview with the head of Kazakhstan's space agency. Mlm42 (talk) 19:50, 5 January 2011 (UTC)

Name

A lot of Russian historians (Gudilin for example) have said that "Baikonur" was chosen to misdirect the USA away from Tyura-Tam. The reference to the entire region being called Baikonur is a quote from an American astronaut. The comment about the town of Baikonur only being named in the 1990s is a confused reference to the renaming of Tyura-Tam to "Baikonur", not the name of the original town which was 350 km north of Tyura-Tam. This issue needs some fact checking, the validity of the section in this article is questionable. DonPMitchell (talk) 16:10, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

the worlds oldest

It's not the worlds oldest spaceport. Cape Canaveral Air Force Station had its first launch in 1950, Baikonur in 1955. Leuband (talk) 19:18, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

It wasn't the space launch in 1950, russians had the same launches in 1950 R-1 (missile) , but it's not enough to call it spaceport--80.66.69.228 (talk) 06:26, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

In the Kazakh language, Tyuratam means "broken arrow", which would seem obvious as a reason why it was not used as the public name of the launch site[citation needed].

Actually, Kazakh "Tyuratam" (correctly Tore Tam) means "Hose of Tore", Tore is a Kazakh tribe, anchestors of Genghis Khan. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.56.250.199 (talk) 14:20, 21 May 2009 (UTC)

I don't know which is correct, but the Wikipedia entry on Tyuratam itself says the name means "Töre's grave", Töre being "a descendant of Genghis Khan". That's 3 different explanations -- apparently none sourced. Who's right? Digitante (talk) 03:49, 30 March 2010 (UTC)

Visitor center

Does anyone know if there is a visitor center or somewhere where you can get a tour? I think it would be interesting. The Kennedy Space Center page says there is are public tours of that facility. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.218.86.48 (talk) 18:22, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

Unlike Kennedy Space Center, which is on the coast of Florida (a major tourist destination, including beaches, Disneyworld, etc.), the Cosmodrome is in a remote area which is harder to visit.

The closest thing to a visitor's center might be the museum. The article talks about the museum at length, but I am not sure how accurate it is, because is "Buran, a Soviet shuttle that was tested and orbited on a single unmanned spaceflight sits right next to the museum entrance", even though the article on Buran says it was destroyed in 2002.

71.109.145.205 (talk) 01:53, 24 February 2013 (UTC)\\

Baikonur hosted the destroyed shuttle, the second flight article OK-2K1 ("Ptichka"), the OK-M airframe a shake test article, and the OK-MT engineering mockup. The OK-1K1 remains where it was destroyed, the OK-2K1 and OK-MT were moved to the MZK building after the collapse of the MIK building roof, and the OK-M remained on a pad in area 112 until removed to the Gagarin museum in 2007 for refurbishment and placed there on outdoors display.

As for visiting, the town of Baikonur has hotels and lots of rocket monuments, including the monument and grave of the 120 engineers and other officials that died in the Nedelin disaster. I don't think there are any guest facilities in the Cosmodrome itself, so the museum would be the natural place to see. The cosmodrome is huge, and the transportation system is rail. SkoreKeep (talk) 15:13, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

In addition to the basic points here of making sure the on-site museum is described accurately, a link or list to the best spaceflight museums featuring Soviet spaceflight would be useful. Baikonur is remote, so I am looking for other places I can get much of the same knowledge. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 185.69.144.112 (talk) 11:26, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

Soviet map

Although Kazakhstan & Russia are officially partners in Baikonur Cosmodrome, it is perfect obvious than Kazakhstan is very much the subordinate partner. That aside, since the most significant portion of Baionur's history is the Soviet space program, could we include a map which shows Baikonur relative to the entire old Soviet Union? V. Joe (talk) 03:47, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

Not sure where you get the "senior partner" bit. Kazakhstan is very much in the driver's seat concerning ownership issues, with Russia in the lessor role. True, Russia supplies the expertise, but Kazakhstan is raising up its own crop of scientists and engineers. While you're at it, include the Semipalatinsk Atomic Test Site (also ceded to Kazakhstan, and permanently closed by the latter, the Sary Shagan missile test area, and the nearby Kapustin Yar military rocket test site. SkoreKeep (talk) 15:28, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

"Russia supplies the expertise, but Kazakhstan is raising up its own crop of scientists and engineers"

Vous semblez vous contredire ici! De toute évidence, la Russie est le "senior partner", n'est-ce pas? Henrilebec (talk) 06:24, 20 June 2023 (UTC)

Environmental impact

" Dead wildlife and livestock were usually incinerated, and the participants in these incinerations, including Tobonov, his brothers and inhabitants of his native village of Eliptyan Horulinskogo naslega commonly died from stroke or cancer." I doubt the significance of this statement. 75% of the western word dies of stroke and cancer so it does not seem unusual that "Tobonov, his brothers and inhabitants" would. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.61.72.7 (talk) 03:51, 28 November 2013 (UTC)

format of article

The format of the article is scrambled and there are unnecessary tags etc.

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The advantage of launching closer to the equator.

"Also, it is advantageous to place space launch sites closer to the equator, as the surface of the Earth has higher rotational speed in such areas."

I doubt that's the main reason, the energy speed boost of launching from, say, Guiana Space Center at 5° North over Kennedy Space Center, at 28° North, is 180 kph compared to 28,000 kph which is the normal LEO orbital velocity. I would say the main advantage is the ability to launch to very low-inclination orbits with less rocket-power. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Galopujacyjez (talk • contribs) 12:08, 10 April 2019 (UTC)

Kazakhstan Seizes Russian Assets At Baikonur Spaceport

Could someone with access to the article (paywall), or to local news reports, please check what this is about? Aviationweek.com is reporting that Kazakh authorities have seized Russian assets at Baikonur spaceport.[1] Renerpho (talk) 03:36, 14 March 2023 (UTC)