Baikonur

During the Soviet period, the town was known as Leninsk, and was sometimes referred to as Zvezdograd (4=Star City). It was officially renamed Baikonur by Russian president Boris Yeltsin on December 20, 1995. The Russian controlled area is an ellipse measuring 90 km east to west by 85 km north to south, with the cosmodrome situated at the area's centre. Foreign visitors and tourists can visit the cosmodrome and city but need to obtain a specific permit from Roscosmos.

• Official Name — Baikonur • Subdivision Type — Country • Subdivision Type1 — City • Subdivision Name — Kazakhstan Russia (administered) • Established Title2 — Founded • Established Date2 — 1955 • Established Title3 — Incorporated (city) • Established Date3 — 1966 • Leader Title — Administrator • Leader Name — Konstantin Dmitrievich Busygin • Area Total Km2 — 57 • Population As Of — 2020 • Population Total — 39,341 • Population Density Km2 — auto • Time Zone — UTC+05:00 • Elevation M — 100 • Postal Code Type — Postal code • Postal Code — 710501 • Area Code — +7 73622 • Registration Plate — N, 11 (Kazakhstan), 94 (Russia) • Custom Label1 Sec1 — Climate • Custom Data1 Sec1 — BWk

The original Baikonur (Kazakh for "wealthy brown", i.e. "fertile land with many herbs") is a mining town located about 320 km northeast of the present-day spaceport, near Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan's Karagandy Region. In the run-up to the Vostok 1 flight in April 1961, Soviet authorities deliberately applied the name "Baikonur" to the launch site to obscure its true location. Residents of the mining town briefly exploited the confusion to obtain scarce materials before officials discovered the misunderstanding. The modern city of Baikonur was built several kilometres south of the existing railway settlement of Töretam, which predates the cosmodrome. Töretam, located on the Trans-Aral Railway, served as the original railhead in the region and gave the early test range its first widely used name, "Tyuratam". The fortunes of the new city have risen and fallen with the Soviet and later Russian space programme and the operations of the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Due to its military and scientific significance, the settlement was a closed city during the Soviet period and did not appear on publicly available maps before perestroika. The Soviet government formally established the Scientific-Research Test Range No. 5 (Nauchno-Issledovatel'skii Ispytatel'nyi Poligon No. 5; NIIIP-5), or by decree on 12 February 1955. The U-2 reconnaissance aircraft first identified and photographed the Tyuratam missile test range (the present-day Baikonur Cosmodrome) on 5 August 1957. Most local landmarks reflect the city's close ties to the space programme, with only a few exceptions such as the preserved locomotive, an Orthodox church, and a mosque. Administratively, the city belongs to the Odintsovsky District of Moscow Oblast in accordance with internal Russian arrangements, but it remains an administrative unit of Kazakhstan. Under the bilateral agreement between Russia and Kazakhstan, Baikonur is granted an unofficial status equivalent to a Russian city of federal significance for the duration of the lease of the Baikonur complex (currently through 2050).

South of city center, near the Syr Darya River there is a large park with several sports and amusement facilities. Among these is a ferris wheel, which is no longer in use. The park is located at coordinates.

Baikonur features a cold desert climate (BWk). Summers are hot with July highs averaging slightly over, while winters are cold, with longer periods of sustained below-freezing temperatures.

• Illustration — U-2 photograph of R-7 launch pad in Toretam • Illustration — Baikonur and Syr Darya River • Illustration — Entrance to the city • Illustration — Kazakh boy wearing a national costume at the celebration of Nauryz event in Baikonur, with a camel