Russia to build new space launch facility

William Atkins
Thursday, 22 November 2007 00:34

Science - Space

An official of the Russian government announced on Wednesday, November 21, 2007, that it will build the Vostochny (Eastern) Cosmodrome in the far eastern part of Russia.       

Russian president Vladimir Putin signed the papers that authorized the building of space port. The facility, which will be used for both military and civilian spacecraft, will begin to be built in 2010. Tentatively, it is scheduled to begin unmanned launches in 2015, with its first manned launch expected in 2018. The new facility will be built in the general vicinity of a former unmanned launch facility, Svobodny.

Russia currently uses two launch sites: the Baikonur Cosmodrome, located in the Central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan, launches manned and unmanned spacecraft and the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, in northwest Russia, launches ballistic missiles.

The Plesetsk space center, located near the town of Mirny, is about 500 miles (800 kilometers) northeast of Moscow.

Russia stated it would continue to use the Baikonur space center until at least 2020. Although, it may eventually end its 2050 lease with the country of Kazakhstan, which was part of the former Soviet Union.

Currently, Baikonur is used for all launches of crews and cargo to the International Space Station and most of its launches of geostationary-orbiting satellites. However, Russian officials state that they wish to reduce its dependency on the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The Baikonur Cosmodrome, the largest space launch facility in the world, was originally built by the Soviet Union, completed in June 1955, and was instrumental in its 1950s and 1960s space program. Sputnik 1, the first orbiting spacecraft, and Vostok 1, which carried the first human into space (Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin), were launched from Baikonur on October 4, 1957 and April 12, 1961, respectively. It is located about 125 miles (200 kilometers) east of the Aral Sea near the town of Tyuratam.