On April 28, 2016 in the presence of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir PUTIN ROSCOSMOS successfully launched the first launch vehicle from the first civil cosmodrome of the contemporary Russia - cosmodrome VOSTOCHNY. There are planned two launches from VOSTOCHNY in the year 2017, thereafter the amount of launch vehicles’ launches will increase, RSC Energia reported.
It’s been a year since the moment, when at 5:01 Moscow time (at 11:01 the Amur Region time) from “zero”, as they speak at BAIKONUR or at site No.1 of VOSTOCHNY cosmodrome, there was launched Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle (with upper stage Volga), which inserted into orbit spacecrafts Lomonosov (M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University) and Aist-2D (The Academician S.P. Korolev Samara State Aerospace University). Both spacecrafts fulfill the assigned missions in full measure.
The President of the Russian Federation Vladimir PUTIN, Deputy Chairman of the RF Government Dmitry ROGOZIN, General Director of ROSCOSMOS Igor KOMAROV and State Corporation specialists and rocket-and-space industry enterprises’ specialists, and Amur Region Administration, thousands habitants of Blagoveshchensk and Svobodniy and leading mass media journalists observed the first launch from VOSTOCHNY together with millions of Russians, which empathized this actually historical event on the TV or via the Internet.
The cosmodrome building history started in the year 2007. On November 6 the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir PUTIN signed the decree about building of the cosmodrome VOSTOCHNY, which provides for an independent access of Russia to the outer space. The first stone has been laid on August 28, 2010. The preparatory building activities began in September, 2011, and the full-scale activities on creating infrastructure and technological objects started in the beginning of 2012.
At the end of 2015th there was completed the construction of 115 km of automobile roads and 125 km of railways, which connected Vostochny objects and cosmodrome itself with city Tsiolkovsky. The reconstruction was made of Ledyanaya railway station and a new one was built in Tsiolkovsky, with the bus station and railway terminal. Three bridges were constructed and reconstructed. There was built a cosmodrome power supply system, fully providing launching site and technical complex with electric power, and also providing it for city Tsiolkovsky. By the beginning of 2016 there were built domestic buildings of the first order at Tsiolkovsky, there is already a kindergarten for the first kids of the cosmodrome, a medical center with modern equipment and other social infrastructure facilities – in future there will live up to 30 thousand people.
The General Director of ROSCOSMOS State Corporation Igor KOMAROV: “VOSTOCHNY Cosmodrome is a result of serious long work. Engineers, designers, builders, employees of ROSCOSMOS and of State Corporation enterprises, which create ground space infrastructure, prepare launch vehicles and spacecrafts for the launch, operational crew, directly fulfilling launches, hundreds of people of other professions – this is our cosmodrome. It is our devoted work, which result is an advanced space complex and a new city, built in taiga. And the monument to the builder, engineer and cosmonaut, placed near the new railroad station building, symbolizes the main thing: we are one team. We have a common idea and a shared goal! And we are ready to solve the global tasks. Congratulations to Your with our holiday, with the first anniversary of VOSTOCHNY!”
At VOSTOCHNY there were built launching site and technical complex for launching rockets of medium class of Soyuz-2 type with the automated spacecrafts and command and tracking station. There was constructed a unique mobile service tower (MST) 52 meters high. With its help it is possible to place a payload onto the launch vehicle, which is in vertical position at launching site, and to work safely almost at any temperature regime. There is no such equipment in PLESETSK or at BAIKONUR.
In 2017 it is planned to fulfill two launches from VOSTOCHNY according to the Federal space program. Spacecrafts METEOR-M and CANOPUS-B will be launched to the orbit. It is planned that since 2018 there will be also carrying out commercial launches from VOSTOCHNY.
Cosmodrome VOSTOCHNY is not only an independent access of Russia to space. It is a new development for the entire Far East Region. And now here already passes the third Cosmofest, and during Days of ROSCOSMOS Russian universities’ students learn more about space activity of Russia directly from those, who build and insert launch vehicles and spacecrafts, and communicate with cosmonauts which work on the ISS, carrying out hundreds of scientific and biomedical experiments, approximating the dream about studying outer space and new planets for the humanity.