Excursion to Baikonur

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Excursion to Baikonur

Today, tourists have a rare opportunity to witness both manned and unmanned rocket launches at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Over the course of three days, they will take a guided tour of the cosmodrome, visit the iconic “Gagarin Launch” pad, explore the Museum of Space History, and visit the memorial houses of Yuri Gagarin and Sergey Korolev. Additionally, they’ll view launch sites and explore significant landmarks, including the Soyuz and Proton complexes and the assembly-testing facilities for Proton and Energia spacecraft.

These “space tours” are infrequent, as they are planned around scheduled launches, and visitors need to apply at least two months in advance. The tour program typically spans three days. On the first morning, visitors board a bus to watch the transport of the rocket from the hangars to the launchpad. Moved on a specialized train guarded by special forces and patrol dogs, the entire scene is incredibly cinematic. Visitors can approach the rocket closely and marvel at its immense size.

Next, tourists are taken to the launch site, where modern cosmonauts continue to launch from the same pad where Yuri Gagarin made his historic flight. For about an hour, guests can watch the rocket being raised to its vertical position and take photos with this awe-inspiring backdrop. If lucky, they might even have a chance to exchange a few words with the backup crew members.

On the following day, tourists visit the small house where Gagarin and Korolev spoke the night before Gagarin’s flight. The final day is typically spent visiting the now nearly dried-up Aral Sea—a haunting sight with rusted ships stranded on sand that was once the seabed.

The most exciting part of the tour begins the day before the launch. Tourists arrive at the cosmonauts’ hotel to watch the official press conference, where the primary and backup crews answer questions from the media. Seated behind a glass barrier to prevent any possibility of infection, the crew’s health is protected to ensure no illness is brought aboard the ISS.

After a rest period during the day, tourists gather around 1 a.m. to watch the crew leave the hotel and board a bus bound for the cosmodrome, a journey that takes about an hour. At a second observation point, visitors watch through a glass window as the cosmonauts don their flight suits and perform final checks. Then, suited and ready, the astronauts board the bus to the launch pad.

The launch itself is at 7 a.m. local time. From a designated viewing area, visitors can safely and comfortably watch this thrilling moment. A nearby café offers breakfast, coffee, and internet access. Describing the launch in words hardly does it justice—it is loud, brilliant, and absolutely breathtaking.