Baikonur Cosmodrome
Good to know
- Best time to go
- April to October
- Budget
- $$
- Accessibility
- limited
- Coordinates
- Open in maps
Baikonur Cosmodrome is the world's first and largest operational space launch facility, located on the Kazakh steppe and leased from Kazakhstan by Russia. Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin's Vostok 1 both lifted off from here, and the site has hosted nearly every crewed Russian spaceflight since 1961. The adjacent city of Baikonur contains museums, launch pad remnants, and monuments tracing the history of the Soviet space programme, accessible on organised visits during launch windows.