Baikonur Cosmodrome
Baikonur Cosmodrome is located at 45.6°N 63.4°E in the flat grasslands of the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan. The area has a continental climate, with long, cold winters and hot, dry summers.
Construction of the secret missile site began in 1955. The first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, and first human in space, Yuri Gagarin, were launched from Baikonur. All subsequent Russian manned missions have lifted off from there, as well as geostationary, lunar, planetary, and many ocean surveillance missions.
Until recently, the name Baikonur was misleading. The former Soviet Union used the name and coordinates of a small mining town, Baikonur, to describe its secret rocket complex. This was done intentionally to hide the true location of the launch complex. In fact, the launch complex is about 370 kilometres south-west of Baikonur town, near the railway station and village of Tyuratam and close to Leninsk city. In 1998, Leninsk city was renamed Baikonur city.
Baikonur Cosmodrome is home to several launch vehicles. Of these, the European Space Agency (ESA) has used, or is planning to use, the Soyuz-Fregat and Proton launchers.
In the summer of 2000, ESA's four Cluster spacecraft were launched from Baikonur using Soyuz-Fregat launchers. The same type of launchers will also be used in summer 2003 to launch ESA's Mars Express spacecraft.
The Proton, Russia's largest operational launch vehicle will be used to launch Integral, ESA's gamma-ray detecting spacecraft, in October 2002.