Gagarin's Start
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Launch site | Baikonur Cosmodrome | ||||||||||||
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Location | 45°55′13″N 63°20′32″E / 45.92028°N 63.34222°E | ||||||||||||
Short name | LC-1/5 | ||||||||||||
Operator | Soviet space program, Roscosmos | ||||||||||||
Total launches | 520 | ||||||||||||
Launch pad(s) | 1 | ||||||||||||
Orbital inclination range | 49° – 99° | ||||||||||||
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Gagarin's Start[1] (Russian: Гагаринский старт, Gagarinskiy start), also known as Baikonur Site 1 or Site 1/5 was a launch site at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan that was used for the Soviet space program and Roscosmos.
Overview
The launchpad for the world's first human spaceflight made by Yuri Gagarin on Vostok 1 in 1961, the site was referred to as Site No.1 (Площадка №1, Ploshchadka No. 1) as the first one of its kind. It is also sometimes referred to as NIIP-5 LC1, Baikonur LC1, LC-1/5, LC-1, Pad 1/5 or GIK-5 LC1.
On 17 March 1954, the
The R-7 missile made its maiden voyage from LC-1 on 15 May 1957. On 4 October 1957, the pad was used to launch the world's first artificial satellite,
In 1961, the growing launch schedule of the Soviet space program resulted in the opening of a sister pad at Baikonur,
As of 2016, the most recent accident to occur on or around the pad was the attempted launch of Soyuz T-10-1 in September 1983, which ended disastrously when the booster caught fire during prelaunch preparations and exploded, causing severe damage that left LC-1 inoperable for almost a year.
In 2019, Gagarin's Start hosted its last two crewed launches in July and September before its planned modernisation for Soyuz-2 rockets with a planned first launch at 2023.[6] After retirement of Gagarin's Start, crewed missions are launched from Site 31.
The last launch from Gagarin's Start was the
Gagarin's Start failed to receive funding (in part due to Russian invasion of Ukraine) to modernize it for the slightly larger Soyuz-2 rocket. In 2023, it was announced that the Russian and Kazakhstan authorities plan to deactivate the site as a retired space launch pad and turn it into a museum (in part for tourism purposes).[7]
Gallery
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Soyuz TMA-16 launches from Gagarin's Start on 30 September 2009, on its way to the International Space Station.
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Sunrise at the launch pad prior to the rollout of Soyuz TMA-13, 10 October 2008.
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Progress M-13M launches on 30 October 2011.
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The Flame deflector for Gagarin's Start
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A Soyuz on Gagarin's Start, 2018, satellite photo
See also
- Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 31
- Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 14, the equivalent for the United States' first human spaceflights
Notes
- ^ "As Suffredini spoke, a Soyuz TMA-5 spacecraft was being hoisted onto Russia's Baikonur launch pad, named "Gagarin's Start" after the first man in space. ", http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-10/13/content_381791.htm , China Daily, 2004-10-13 on Soyuz TMA-5 launch
- ^ Origin of the test range in Tyuratam at Russianspaceweb.com
- ^ (in Russian) Creation and Launch of the First Earth's Satellite by V.Poroshkov Archived 29 October 2005 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Baikonur LC1Archived 15 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Gagarin's pad
- ^ ""Гагаринский старт" на "Байконуре" закроется на модернизацию до 2023 года". 8 August 2019.
- ^ Berger, Eric (16 October 2023). "After six decades, 'Gagarin's Start' will meet its end as a launch pad". Ars Technica. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
Further reading
- J. K. Golovanov, M., "Korolev: Facts and myths", ISBN 5-02-000822-2
- "Rockets and people" – ISBN 5-217-02942-0(in Russian)
- «A breakthrough in space» - Konstantin Vasilyevich Gerchik, M: LLC "Veles", 1994, - ISBN 5-87955-001-X
- "Testing of rocket and space technology - the business of my life" Events and facts - A.I. Ostashev, Korolyov, 2001.[1]
- "Baikonur. Korolev. Yangel." - M. I. Kuznetsk, ISBN 5-89981-117-X
- "Look back and look ahead. Notes of a military engineer" - Rjazhsky A. A., 2004, SC. first, the publishing house of the "Heroes of the Fatherland" ISBN 5-91017-018-X
- "Rocket and space feat Baikonur" - Vladimir Порошков, the "Patriot" publishers 2007. ISBN 5-7030-0969-3
- "Unknown Baikonur" - edited by B. I. Posysaeva, M.: "globe", 2001. ISBN 5-8155-0051-8
- "Bank of the Universe" - edited by Boltenko A. C., ISBN 978-966-136-169-9