Historically, mankind has always looked closely at the sky and was interested in various celestial bodies. There are legends that allegedly the first people traveled into space in ancient times, but this has not been documented in any way. But the whole world experienced surprise and joy when, in 1961, Soviet officer Yuri Gagarin went into space and then returned to Earth.
The first launch of a Soviet spacecraft took place from a secret facility called the Baikonur cosmodrome. In this article, we will consider not only the named launch pad, but also other significant places.
Pioneer
"Research test site" - that was the name of the project, approved by the General Staff of the USSR Ministry of Defense in 1955. Subsequently, this place became known as the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
This object is located in the Kyzylorda region on the territory of Kazakhstan, not far from the village of Toretam. Its area is about 6,717 sq. km. And for many years, the first spaceport in the world has been considered one of the leaders in its industry in terms of the number of launches. So, for example, in 2015, 18 rockets were launched from it into Earth's orbit. The named test site for space launches is leased by Russia from Kazakhstanuntil 2050. About 6 billion Russian rubles a year are spent on the operation of the facility.
Secrecy level
All spaceports in the world are star harbors that are guarded in the most careful way, and Baikonur is no exception in this regard.
Thus, the construction of the space port was accompanied by the construction of a false cosmodrome near the village of Baikonur. This tactic was also used during World War II, when the military built fake airfields with dummy vehicles.
Soldiers and officers of the construction battalion were directly involved in the construction of the spaceport. In short, they accomplished a real labor feat, as they were able to build a launch pad in two years.
Today's problems
Today, the legendary cosmodrome is going through some pretty hard times. The starting point for the emergence of problems can be considered 2009, when the military left it, and the object passed completely under the jurisdiction of Roscosmos. And all because, along with the military, the cosmodrome also lost a rather serious amount of money that was previously allocated for training and testing.
Of course, launching rockets with satellites also makes money, but these days it is not done as often as it used to be when rockets took off almost every week. Nevertheless, the cosmodrome still remains a recognized world leader in space launches.
Russian giant
But still, considering the spaceports of the world, it would be unfair not to pay attention to other similar objects, one of whichlocated on the territory of the Russian Federation. The technical capabilities and the money invested in its construction and development allow it to launch and put many satellites and space stations into earth orbit.
Plesetsk Cosmodrome is a Russian space harbor located 180 kilometers from Arkhangelsk. The property measures 176,200 hectares.
The Plesetsk Cosmodrome is inherently a special rather complex scientific and technical complex, which is designed both for military tasks and for peaceful purposes.
The cosmodrome includes many objects:
- Complexes for the launch of launch vehicles.
- Technical complexes (carry out the preparation of rockets and other spacecraft).
- Fueling and neutralization multifunctional station. It is used to refuel launch vehicles, upper stages.
- Almost 1500 buildings and structures.
- 237 objects that power the entire spaceport.
Far East site
One of the newest spaceports in Russia is Vostochny, which is located near the city of Tsiolkovsky in the Amur Region (Far East). The harbor is used exclusively for civilian purposes.
The construction of the facility began in 2012 and was actively accompanied by various corruption scandals and strikes of workers due to non-payment of wages.
The first launch from the Vostochny Cosmodrome took place relatively recently - on April 28, 2016. Start allowedput into orbit three artificial satellites. At the same time, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, as well as Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and head of the Kremlin administration Sergei Ivanov were present at the site at the time of launching the carriers.
It should be noted that a successful launch from the Vostochny cosmodrome was carried out only on the second attempt. It was originally planned to launch the Soyuz 2.1A launch vehicle on April 27, but literally a minute and a half before the launch, the automatic system canceled it. The leadership of Roscosmos explained this incident by an emergency failure in the operation of the control system, as a result of which the launch was postponed for a day.
List of the main spaceports of the planet
Currently existing spaceports of the world are ranked by the date of their first orbital launch (or its attempt), as well as by the number of successful and failed launches. Their list currently looks like this:
- Baikonur.
- US Air Force Base at Cape Canaveral.
- Vandenberg (United States of America).
- Wallops.
- Kapustin Yar (RF).
- Hammaguire (France).
- Plesetsk (Russia).
- Uchinoura (Japan).
- San Marco (Italy).
- Kennedy Space Center (USA).
- Womera (Australia).
- Kourou (France, European Space Agency).
- Jiuquan (China).
- Tanegashima (Japan).
- Satish Dhawan Space Center (India).
- Xichang (China).
- Taiyuan (China).
- Palmachim (Israel).
- Al-Anbar (Iraq).
- Free (Russia).
- Alcantara (Brazil).
- Musudan (North Korea).
- "Sea Launch" (Russia, USA, Norway, Ukraine).
- Kodiak (USA).
- Reagan Test Site (USA).
- Semnan (Iran).
- Naro (South Korea).
American leader
Cape Canaveral (USA) has been used by the military since 1949. It was then that army engineers began their experiments on launching long-range missiles. The named place was chosen for a reason, since the cosmodrome is located very close to the equator, and this, in turn, makes it possible to use the force of rotation of our planet to accelerate the rocket. In 1957, the government of the country decided to launch a satellite called Vanguard TV3. Unfortunately, the attempt was unsuccessful (the rocket exploded).
Already since 1958, the NASA aerospace agency began to manage rocket launches. However, formally, the spaceport is still in the administration of the US Department of Defense. The Space Harbor consists of 38 launch pads, 4 of which are active.
French Space Vanguard
The Guiana Space Center, often referred to as the Kourou spaceport (French Guiana), is stationed in the northeast of South America. The facility was erected on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean between two cities: Sinnamari and Kourou. The spaceport is jointly operated by the European Space Agency and the National Center for Space Research.
This launch site first sent a rocket into space on April 9, 1968. It is important to note that the cosmodrome is located literally five hundred kilometers from the equatorial line, which allows the most efficient launch of aircraft into the geostationary orbit of our Earth. In addition, the geographical location of the space port is such that the launch angle is always 102 degrees, and this figure significantly expands the range of launch trajectories for objects used for various tasks.
The efficiency of the launch pad is so high that it has attracted the attention of many corporate clients from many countries around the world: USA, Canada, Japan, Brazil, India, Azerbaijan.
In 2015, the European Space Agency invested more than 1.6 billion euros in the modernization of the infrastructure of the spaceport. The high level of security of the facility also deserves special attention. The Space Harbor is located in an area that is densely covered with equatorial forests. At the same time, the department itself is poorly populated. In addition, there is no risk of even the weakest earthquakes or hurricanes. To ensure maximum protection against an external attack, the 3rd Regiment of the Foreign Legion (France) is located at the cosmodrome.
Joint project
The launch platform "Odyssey" is, in fact, a huge self-propelled, semi-submersible catamaran. The facility was built in Norway on the basis of an oil platform. The composition of the described mobile spaceport includes:
- starting table;
- rocket installer;
- fuel and oxidizer refueling systems;
- temperature control system;
- nitrogen supply system;
- cable mast.
The Marine Space Launcher is manned by 68 personnel. Living quarters, a medical center and a canteen have been built for them.
The platform is based in the port of Long Beach, California (southwest USA). The industrial giant of the space industry arrived at this place of its permanent deployment on its own, passing through the Strait of Gibr altar, the Suez Canal and Singapore.
Conclusion
Finally, I would like to note that all the spaceports of the world that exist today allow mankind to actively develop and explore space. With the help of platforms for launching vehicles into Earth's orbit, many different civil and military actions are carried out.
