Travel from Almaty to Baikonur – Watching the launch of a rocket on Baikonur –
Baikonur (until 1996, the city of Leninsk) is a city in the Karmakshinsky district of the Kyzylorda region. It is located 2 km west of the Tyuratam railway station, on the right bank of the Syr Darya River, in the arid zone of the Turan Plain. The population is 77 thousand people (2018). Baikonur is a city of republican and strategic importance in Kazakhstan. The city of Baikonur together with the Baikonur cosmodrome is leased to the Russian Federation until 2050. In relations with the Russian Federation during the term of the Russian lease, the city has the status corresponding to the city of federal significance of the Russian Federation.
How to get there
The city of Baikonur is located in the Kyzylorda region, Kazakhstan. GPS coordinates: 45°37'0"N 63°19'0"E
Information
The city was founded in 1955 in connection with the construction of the Baikonur cosmodrome. In 1960, the city's population reached 40 thousand, and in 1975-74 thousand. Until December 1995 it was called Leninsk. In the USSR, it had the status of a closed city. There is a pass regime in the city, it is possible to get into the city only after obtaining a permit for travel or passage on foot. The city, which occupies several thousand hectares, has been considered a ”top secret" object for many years. Both local residents and military experts called the city “Square 10". And the airport “Extreme “ adjacent to the city and numerous economic institutions and the Tyuratam railway station are included in the”Area 9".
Infrastructure
In the city of Baikonur there is a branch of the Moscow Aviation Institute "Vostok", an electrical engineering college, a large computing center, a military hospital, a polyclinic, an airport "Extreme", a power plant, various cultural centers, many trade and life support enterprises. There are 8 schools of the Russian representative office and 5 schools of the Karmakshinsky district Department of Education in the city. Monuments to chief designers S. P. Korolev and M. G. Yangel have been erected on the central square of the city of Baikonur, as well as a spaceship built by S. P. Korolev on a pedestal. In the recreation park of the city there is a fraternal cemetery of those who died during rocket tests, a museum of the history of space exploration. Many streets are named after people who have made a great contribution to the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The necessary equipment, machinery, construction materials, etc. are delivered to the city of Baikonur and to the cosmodrome through the Tyuratam railway station. Many enterprises and institutions included in the infrastructure of the city, together with the Baikonur cosmodrome, were leased to the Russian Federation for 20 years in 1993.
The city of Baikonur is a space port of Kazakhstan
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