Gagarin's Start
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Soyuz TMA-3 is launched from Gagarin's Start |
|
| Launch site | Baikonur Cosmodrome |
|---|---|
| Location | 45.920278°N 63.342222°E |
| Short name | LC-1/5 |
| Operator | Soviet space program, Russian Space Agency |
| Total launches | TBC |
| Launch pad(s) | 1 |
| Minimum / maximum orbital inclination | 49° – 99° |
| Gagarin's Start launch history | |
| Status | Active |
| Launches | TBC |
| First launch | R-7, May 15, 1957 |
| Last launch | Progress M-65, 10 September 2008 |
| Associated rockets | R-7 Vostok Voskhod Molniya Soyuz(current) |
Gagarin's Start[1] (Russian: «Гагаринский старт») is a launch site at Baikonur Cosmodrome, used for the Soviet space program and managed by the Russian Federal Space Agency since 1991. In the past it was referred to as Site No.1 (Russian: «Площадка №1») and was named after Yuri Gagarin after his spacecraft was launched from there for the world's first human spaceflight. The site is also sometimes referred to as NIIP-5 LC1, Baikonur LC1 or GIK-5 LC1.
On March 17, 1954 the Council of Ministers of the USSR ordered several ministries to select until January 1, 1955 a site for the proving ground to test R-7 rocket designed by NII-88. A special reconnaissance commission considered several possible geographic regions and selected Tyuratam. This selection was approved on February 12, 1955 by the Council of Ministers of the USSR, the site should be completed until 1958.[2] Actual works on the construction of the Site No.1 began on July 20, 1955 by military building units. Every day and night more than 60 powerful trucks worked at the site, 15,000 cubic meters (19,600 cubic yards) were extracted and removed per day, with the total amount of work estimated to be 750,000 cubic meters (980,000 cubic yards). In the winter explosions were widely applied. By the end of October, 1956 all primary building and installation works for R-7 tests were completed. Installation and Testing Building (Russian: Монтажно-испытательный корпус), named "Site No.2" was built and a special railway was completed from there to the Site No.1, where the launch pad for the rocket was located.[3] In April 1957 all remaining works were completed and the site was completely ready for launches.
It was first intended for the R-7 ballistic missile program, and on August 21, 1957 the first ICBM was launched from there. Later, on October 4, 1957 the site was used to launch the world's first Earth's artificial satellite Sputnik 1. Manned spaceflights launched from the site include Yuri Gagarin's flight, Valentina Tereshkova's flight, and numerous other human spaceflight missions, including all Soviet and Russian manned spaceflights to Mir. It was used to launch Luna program spacecraft, Mars probe program spacecraft, Venera program spacecraft, to launch many Cosmos satellites and others.[4] Between 1957 and 1966 the site hosted ready-to-launch strategic nuclear ICBMs staying a host for the spacecraft launches at the same time.[4] By the 2000s there were more than 400 launches from the site.[5]
[edit] 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
- ^ (Russian) Creation and Launch of the First Earth's Satellite by V.Poroshkov
- ^ a b Baikonur LC1
- ^ Gagarin's pad
