12 February — the USSR Council of Ministers adopted a Resolution on the creation of a test range for intercontinental ballistic missile trials and the launch of artificial Earth satellites. However, construction of the site began even earlier. The first detachment of military construction personnel arrived at the Tyuratam station on 12 January 1955. Construction proceeded at an incredible pace. Already on 5 May 1957, a special commission accepted the range’s first launch complex, and on 6 May the first R-7 rocket was installed on that complex. The official birthday of the cosmodrome is considered to be 2 June 1955, when the General Staff directive approved the staffing structure of the Fifth Research Test Range. Baikonur is of great international significance. It was from here that the first artificial Earth satellite was launched and the first human spaceflight was carried out; crewed spacecraft of the Vostok, Voskhod, and Soyuz series were launched, as were orbital stations of the Salyut and Mir series, and interplanetary spacecraft. Baikonur is one of three cosmodromes on the planet—alongside Cape Canaveral (USA) and Jiuquan (China)—intended for launching spacecraft with cosmonauts on board. The ISS orbit was selected with Baikonur’s latitude in mind, and it was planned (and is used) for the main launches. After the collapse of the USSR in the early 1990s, the cosmodrome was transferred to Kazakhstan.
And to this day it is leased by Russia until 2050.
By 2009, the Russian military had left the Baikonur Cosmodrome, and it was handed over to Roscosmos. Russia considers it promising to move crewed launches to the new Russian Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Amur Region (after 2018).
Going forward, Kazakhstan plans to operate Baikonur independently after the final transfer of launches to the Amur Region and the end of Russia’s lease of the Baikonur Cosmodrome after 2050.