Baikonur is a small mining town in central Kazakhstan near Jezkazgan. Coal mining began in 1914.
Baikonur
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Coordinates: 47°49′23″N 66°2′50″E / 47.82306°N 66.04722°E | |
Country | Kazakhstan |
Region | Ulytau Region |
Population (2009) | |
• Total | 427 |
Time zone | UTC+6 (UTC+6) |
In 1961, the name was appropriated for the Baikonur Cosmodrome about 320 kilometres southwest of the older mining town; some sources state this was done in order to keep the actual location of the cosmodrome secret.[1][2] Leninsk, the town built to support the cosmodrome, was renamed Baikonur in 1995 after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Geography
editReferences
edit- ^ Suvorov, Vladimir (1997). The first manned spaceflight: Russia's quest for space. Nova Publishers. pp. 16–17. ISBN 978-1-56072-402-5.
- ^ "The Partnership: A History of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project". NASA.
- ^ "L-42 Topographic Chart (in Russian)". Retrieved 9 September 2022.