SciFi-like experience – visiting the Baikonur Cosmodrome (tour report)

Posted by on Jun 2, 2013 in Stuff, What's New?

I did a tour of the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and got to see a ton of cool stuff: the rollout of the Soyuz TMA-09M rocket and its actual launch; the astronaut press conference and pre-flight report; the Energia-Buran launch complex and the N1 transport vehicles; Gagarin’s memorial house; cool museums; the International Space School; countless Soviet-style space monuments; a freakishly big spider.

It was a fantastic experience so I decided to do a write-up on the entire tour, check it out below:

  • Day I: Baikonur and trip background, Moscow to Baikonur flight, first walk around town
  • Day II: Museum of Baikonur History, main sights in Baikonur, International Space School
  • Day III: Soyuz rollout, N1 transport vehicles, Energia-Buran launch pad, Baikonur market
  • Day IV: Baikonur monuments, astronaut press conference, more monuments
  • Day V: Soyuz launch pad, Buran, memorial houses, museum, pre-flight report, THE LAUNCH
  • Day VI: Cosmonaut alley, press conference room, flight back to Moscow.

The tour’s photos are available in the Kazakhstan album:

Finally, I also did a (mediocre) video of the tour, it’s available here