Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome is the oldest and largest space launch facility in the world, built in 1955 as a test range for the Soviet Union’s first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the R-7. It covers 2,600 square miles, measuring 47 miles from north to south and 56 miles from east to west, and contains 15 launch pads (Esa.int, September 14, 2004). On July 8, Kazakhstan’s First Deputy Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintaev offered a tantalizing glimpse into the facility’s future, telling reporters that Russia and Kazakhstan are considering the idea of leasing Baikonur to countries with space programs lacking their own launch …read more
Source: The Jamestown Foundation