If you type “Baikonur Cosmodrome” into a search box, you want one thing first: where on Earth is it? Then you want to know what happened there. This guide answers both. It also covers how to say the name, whether the place is abandoned, and whether you can go.
Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan: where is it?
Baikonur sits in Kazakhstan. It stands on the steppe of the Kyzylorda region, close to the Toretam railway station. The ground is flat and open. That suited a rocket range.
The site is far from the sea. The English Wikipedia article places it about 200 kilometres east of the Aral Sea. It also puts the site about 33 kilometres north of the Syr Darya river, which Turkish readers know as the Seyhun.
Baikonur Cosmodrome location: latitude and map coordinates
The reference coordinates are about 45.965° north latitude and 63.305° east longitude. So if you ask for the latitude of Baikonur Cosmodrome, the answer is roughly 46° north.
Here is an everyday trick. Copy “45.965, 63.305” into the map app on your phone. The pin drops on the steppe, the same way it would for a cafe on your street. Then zoom out and you see how empty the land around it is.
The site is large. ESA’s CryoSat page gives its area as 6,717 square kilometres. It stretches 75 kilometres north to south and 90 kilometres east to west. NASA also published an ASTER satellite image dated 27 July 2010. It shows a 15 by 23 kilometre patch of the site. That image is a good place to start if you want photos of Baikonur Cosmodrome from space.
Baikonur Cosmodrome country: who owns it?
The country is Kazakhstan. The Soviet Union built the site, and the borders changed after the Soviet era. Today the cosmodrome lies inside Kazakhstan, but Russia leases it. The lease runs until 2050 and costs $115 million a year.
So the answer has two parts. The land is Kazakh. The operation is run under a Russian lease.
How do you pronounce Baikonur?
The Collins English Dictionary entry on Dictionary.com gives the British English pronunciation as /baɪˈkəʊnə/. In plain letters that is roughly “by-KOH-nuh”. The Turkish spelling is Baykonur.
How the site began
The story starts with a decision. On 12 February 1955, a Soviet decree set up a site called NIIP-5. It was designed first for testing the R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile. The cosmodrome’s founding date is 2 June 1955.
The site was a weapons test range at first. It was not a space centre. But the R-7 would soon matter for much more than missiles.
Sputnik and Gagarin: the two launches everyone remembers
On 4 October 1957, Sputnik 1 went into orbit from Baikonur, then in Soviet Kazakhstan. It was the world’s first artificial satellite. NASA still marks the date as the start of the space age.
On 12 April 1961, Vostok 1 left Baikonur with Yuri Gagarin aboard. It was the first crewed spaceflight in human history.
Two more firsts followed from the same site:
- Luna 1, launched on 2 January 1959, was the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon.
- Vostok 6, launched on 16 June 1963, carried Valentina Tereshkova. She was the first woman in space.
That is four landmark missions from a single range in under six years.
Timeline
- 12 February 1955: Soviet authorities decide to set up the NIIP-5 site for R-7 tests.
- 2 June 1955: Baikonur Cosmodrome is founded.
- 4 October 1957: Sputnik 1 launches from Baikonur.
- 2 January 1959: Luna 1 begins its trip to the Moon’s vicinity.
- 12 April 1961: Yuri Gagarin lifts off in Vostok 1.
- 16 June 1963: Valentina Tereshkova launches in Vostok 6.
- 23 July 1977: First launch from Site 200/40.
- 15 November 1988: Buran launches, circles the Earth twice and lands automatically.
- 20 December 1995: The city of Leninsk is renamed Baikonur.
- May 2002: The Buran-Energia assembly hangar collapses and eight people die.
- 8 April 2010: ESA’s CryoSat launches on a Dnepr rocket.
- 9 June 2026: Kazakhstan’s tourism portal announces permit processing for foreign tourists of up to 10 days.
Where does the name come from?
The name is disputed. One common claim says “Baikonur” was chosen in 1961 to point the West toward a miners’ settlement. That settlement lies about 320 kilometres northeast of the real site. It is a claim about a decoy name.
There is a counter-view. English Wikipedia, citing NASA’s Apollo-Soyuz history, says Baikonur was already a name for the Toretam area before the facility was built. The two accounts do not agree, and you will see both repeated.
The town next to the site has its own naming story. It grew up for the base’s workers and was known as Leninsk. On 20 December 1995 it was renamed Baikonur.
Launch pads: Site 1, Site 110 and Site 200
Baikonur is a set of numbered sites, not one pad.
Site 200 holds two pads for Proton rockets, 200/39 and 200/40. From pad 200/39 came the Mir space station’s core module, two Kvant modules and the Kristall module. Pad 200/40 saw its first launch on 23 July 1977 with Raduga 3. Its last was on 31 March 1991 with the Almaz 1 satellite.
So if you search for “Baikonur Cosmodrome abandoned”, part of the answer is simple. Some pads have stopped working. Pad 200/40 has had no launch since 1991. But the cosmodrome as a whole is not abandoned. It still has launch activity, a museum, and organized visits.
Details you won’t find in guidebooks
A few facts tend to stay out of the standard summaries.
- One pad, two firsts. Sputnik 1 and Gagarin’s Vostok 1 both launched from the same Site 1 pad at Baikonur. The first satellite and the first human in space left from the same spot.
- Buran flew once, with no crew. On 15 November 1988 the uncrewed Buran shuttle launched from Site 110. It orbited the Earth twice. Then it made an automatic landing at Yubileyniy Airport at Baikonur.
- A hangar disaster. In May 2002 the assembly hangar built for Buran and Energia collapsed. Eight people died.
- Two small houses. The museum complex preserves the two small houses where Yuri Gagarin and the rocket engineer Sergey Korolyov stayed.
- Signed crew photos. The museum displays signed crew portraits left by crews launched from the site.
Can you visit Baikonur Cosmodrome? Tours and reviews
Yes, but not casually. The site is on a leased, controlled territory, so you need a permit first.
Kazakhstan’s official tourism portal said on 9 June 2026 that permit preparation for foreign tourists has been cut to up to 10 days. If you plan a trip, apply early. Do not wait until you arrive in the region.
There is also launch tourism. A ministry statement carried by the same portal says Baikonur has opened a viewing point for 400 people to watch rocket launches. A launch day is a very different visit from a museum day.
A modern launch example shows the site is still in use. ESA’s CryoSat satellite lifted off from Baikonur on 8 April 2010. It rode a Dnepr rocket, which is a converted SS-18 intercontinental ballistic missile. A weapon built for war carried a climate-science satellite.
FAQ
Where is Baikonur Cosmodrome?
It lies on the steppe of Kazakhstan’s Kyzylorda region, near the Toretam railway station. Reference coordinates are about 45.965° N and 63.305° E.
How do you pronounce Baikonur?
The Collins English Dictionary entry on Dictionary.com gives the British English pronunciation as /baɪˈkəʊnə/.
Can you visit Baikonur Cosmodrome?
Yes, with a permit. Kazakhstan’s official tourism portal said on 9 June 2026 that permit preparation for foreign tourists had been cut to up to 10 days.
Is Baikonur abandoned?
No. Some pads are out of use, such as Site 200/40, whose last launch was in 1991. But the site still runs launches and has a viewing point and museum.
Sources
- Türkçe Vikipedi — Baykonur Uzay Üssü tr.wikipedia.org
- English Wikipedia — Baikonur Cosmodrome en.wikipedia.org
- English Wikipedia — Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 200 en.wikipedia.org
- UNESCO Astronomical Heritage Portal — Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan web.astronomicalheritage.net
- ESA — About the launch (CryoSat) esa.int
- NASA — 65 Years Ago: Sputnik Ushers in the Space Age nasa.gov
- JAXA EORC — Baikonur Cosmodrome eorc.jaxa.jp
- Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum — The Soviet Buran Shuttle: One Flight, Long History airandspace.si.edu
- NASA Science — Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan science.nasa.gov
- Dictionary.com / Collins English Dictionary — Baikonur dictionary.com
Image: Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft at the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad (4).jpg — Bill Ingalls, Public domain
