Baikonur Cosmodrome
Baikonur Cosmodrome is the world’s oldest and largest operational space launch facility where you can clearly see the Energia, Soyuz and Proton launch platforms. Located in what is now Kazakhstan, the facility was named Baikonur to confuse the West of its exact location, as the town of Baikonur is some 320km away (although anyone who has flown on the bright orange budget airline would have expected this).
On the base we can also see a full-scale model of the Ptichka – the second of Russia’s Space Shuttle designs. The Ptichka construction began in 1988 and followed the Buran, which we’ve previously spotted. The name means ‘little bird’ in Russian, but was only a nickname as the shuttle was cancelled just before it was completed and formally named.
The real Ptichka is kept indoors at Baikonur Cosmodrome, as was the original Buran shuttle. However the only Soviet craft to enter space was destroyed in 2002 when the roof above it collapsed, crushing the Buran and its mockup of the Energia booster rocket. I could be wrong but it was probably this big building with no roof. Can you spot a bit of Buran?
Thanks: Georgi Petrov (x3), dimuskin, Tesla_HV, & Hamish CJ (Get me pictures?)
Wow. This is operational? Most of it looks demolished and abandoned. I guess looks can be deceiving.
There is a whole lot of info on russianspaceweb.com, including a map.
http://www.russianspaceweb.com/baikonur.html
This site has pictures of the building where Buran was destroyed:
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/spacecraft/q0153.shtml
Looks like the same one.
Looks like the big building with no roof(currently) was the cosmodrome and the Missing Roof is the part that crushed the Buran
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/spacecraft/q0153.shtml
By the way, “Buran” in russian means “snowstorm” not “little bird”.
I didn’t say it did!
‘Ptichka’ means ‘little bird’.
One of the other Buran’s is sadly in pieces in a storage yard in Bahrain, since a legal dispute between whoever owns it and someone who was trying to take it on a world tour.
You can clearly see the fuselage and wings at: Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
Bloody shame if you ask me.
They even found some Indian labourers living in the cockpit having removed a few pieces!