Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!husc6!cfa!cfa250!mcdowell
From: mcdowell@cfa250.harvard.edu (Jonathan McDowell)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Re: Soviet Launch Sites (was Re: space news from Jan 16 AW&ST)
Message-ID: <1455@cfa237.cfa250.harvard.edu>
Date: 3 Apr 89 14:37:55 GMT
References: <2500@ndsuvax.UUCP>
Organization: Harvard/Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Lines: 25

From article <2500@ndsuvax.UUCP>, by ncoverby@ndsuvax.UUCP (Glen Overby):
> If I recall correctly what was said in James Oberg's _Red Star in Orbit_,
> the city of Baikonur doesn't even exist! 

The main Soviet launch site really is called Kosmodrom Baykonur.  There
is a huge sign saying "Baykonur" at the entrance! It should not be
confused with the village of Baykonur some 200 km uprange.  The
cosmodrome lies several miles from the city of Leninsk, which was built
on the site of the small town of Tyuratam; Western sources still
sometimes refer to the launch site as Tyuratam. The Soyuz pads
at Baykonur are located at 46.0 degrees N, 63.5 to 64.0 degrees E.
The SS-9 pads are at about 63.0 degrees E, and Proton and Energia
are somewhere inbetween. It is a huge place. (Coordinates based
on Landsat photos and on working back the orbital ground tracks.)


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