Baikonur Cosmodrome

The World'S First And Largest Space Launch Facility (1955), Where Sputnik And Yuri Gagarin Left Earth. Leased To Russia And Open To Foreign Visitors Only By Permit Through Licensed Operators; The Gagarin'S Start Pad And The Buran Hangar Are The Usual Stops. · Baikonur, Kyzylorda

Baikonur is the world's first and largest space launch site, built on the Syr Darya steppe in the 1950s. Sputnik went up from here in 1957 and Yuri Gagarin left Earth from the pad now called Gagarin's Start in 1961. The ground is in Kazakhstan, but Russia leases the whole complex and the closed city of Baikonur beside it, so this is not a normal attraction. Foreign visitors cannot just turn up: entry is by permit only, through licensed tour operators who must arrange it weeks ahead, with passport details checked in advance. The usual tour covers the Gagarin pad, the Buran shuttle hangar, the museum and the memorial houses of Korolev and Gagarin. Seeing a real launch is only possible on a date when one is scheduled, and the schedule moves. Be honest about the effort: it is remote, costly, bureaucratic and the site is dusty and flat, but for anyone who cares about spaceflight history it is one of the few places on earth like it. Photography rules are strict, and some areas stay closed to everyone.

Launch complex on the Syr Darya steppe about 200 km east of the Aral Sea, run by Russia under a lease; visited only on a permitted tour from the city of Baikonur, Baikonur, Kyzylorda, Kazakhstan

There are no open hours in the normal sense. The cosmodrome is a restricted Russian-leased site and can be entered only on a permitted, escorted tour booked through a licensed operator, usually as a one- or two-day programme with a fixed schedule set by the operator and the site authorities. Tours generally run on chosen dates, often timed around a launch when one is planned, and not every week. Permits take weeks to process, so confirm dates, ID rules and what the day includes with the operator.

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