The world's first and busiest spaceport — where Gagarin left Earth and the space age began
Baikonur Cosmodrome, leased by Russia from Kazakhstan, is the oldest and most historically significant space launch facility on Earth. Sputnik launched from here in 1957. Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space from Baikonur's Pad 1 on 12 April 1961. For over six decades, every Soviet and Russian human spaceflight departed from this steppe launch complex. The cosmodrome sits in flat Kazakh desert 200km from the Aral Sea. Tours are permitted and offer access to the original Gagarin launch pad (Pad 1, now a UNESCO-listed monument), launch viewing for Soyuz missions, and museums preserving…
The Soviets chose the empty Kazakh steppe for their secret missile testing program in 1955, naming it after a town 300km away to mislead Western intelligence. The R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile — the world's first ICBM — was tested here, and its civilian variant launched Sputnik on 4 October 1957, beginning the Space Age. Gagarin's Vostok 1 flight on 12 April 1961 — marked now as Cosmonautics Day — launched from Pad 1, still standing and still used for ceremonial Soyuz launches. The Soviet lunar program, the Salyut and Mir space stations, and the ISS crews all departed from Baikonur.…