The Forgotten Space: Abandoned Premises of “Baikonur”

Blogger mister-marat has visited the abandoned premises of cosmodrome “Baikonur” in Kazakhstan that used to keep models of space shuttles and launch systems and he’s still full of vivid impressions and emotions.

The way to the abandoned premises is 36 km long, it’s like to walk along Moscow diagonally. Marat was doing it at +37C under the merciless sun of the steppe.

According to Marat, it’s very sad to see the shuttles that used to have the enormous power in such a miserable condition.

“Buran” used to be a rocket glider of tthe reusable transportation space system. It made one flight only – on November 15, 1988 in an autonomous mode and with a successful landing. It was the most advanced technology of the time. The shuttle was damaged by the collapsed roof in 2002.

The highest building is the Dynamic Test System that still accomodates the model of the launch system “Energia” (“Energy”).

Now the premise also accomodates two space ships – “Burya” and the engineering mock-up OK-MT for prelaunch operations training.

It’s quite spooky to be there, many sounds around were hard to explain.

The ships still look rathaer futuristic.

Only VIP figures may have an excursion to this place, and it is always limited to the first floor.

Bloggers even had a chance to get inside the ship, but it didn’t have a lot there.

Mock-up of “Energia M” with the mass of 1050 tons. The rocket allows to transport heavy loads to near-earth and geostationary orbits including ships like “Buran”. The mock-up has been here since December 1991.

“Energia-M”

Assembly and refuel building.

Everything looks monumental and impressive. “Half-Life” in its own way.

The cosmodrome is rented from Kazakhstan until 2050. According to how it looks today, the object will probably turn into an inactive installation that will attract many other adventure-seekers.

via mister-marat.livejournal.com