I was in French Guiana, to see the VA259 Ariane 5 launch from the European Space Center at Kourou.
I managed to snag the best launch viewing ticket available to the general public, at the IBIS viewing deck, but that still put me 13km (8 miles) away. It was still a very fine launch to see! As usual, it started with odd plumes of smoke and flame that made me briefly fear an accident, then a fine fiery ascent. Even at 8 miles, it was notably bright. Hurrah! Not a Soyuz, but still fun!
Here are a couple of snaps, with my telephoto zoom from 8 miles through a slight haze…
To my gleeful amazement, I unexpectedly ran across Gagarin’s Vostok-1 capsule yesterday!
I was out wandering in Moscow and at the VDNKh exhibition center I discovered a newly opened museum “Cosmos”. It turns out to be a big new Space Technology museum. And sitting in the lobby was the original Gagarin Vostok-1 capsule. Oh wow! I’ve been trying to visit this for years and I was really pleased to finally and unexpectedly see it!
The Vostok-1 capsule is normally kept at the restricted-access RSC Energia Museum, which until recently was closed to foreigners. I am amazed that the Cosmos Museum guys managed to pry the Vostok-1 capsule away from RSC Energia, who normally guard it like a particularly suspicious mother bear with its favorite cub.
By an odd coincidence, I had finally managed to arrange a private visit to the RSC Energia Museum today (for a princely 580 Euros). Here they explained, rather grumpily, that the Vostok-1 capsule was on a temporary loan to the new Cosomos museum and they were expecting it back imminently, if not sooner.
Even with Vostok-1 away, the RSC Energia Museum has lots of other good stuff, including:
The Vostok-style capsule that had been used for Belka and Strelka. This Vostok-style capsule had held a smaller capsule with the two dogs. After re-entry, the smaller capsule with the dogs was ejected, just as a human cosmonaut would be before the main capsule landed. Both the larger and smaller capsules landed safely. The RSC Energia exhibit includes both the larger capsule and the in-situ dog capsule. My guide assured me that both are the originals.
Another similar dogs-in-space Vostok-style capsule.
The Vostok-6 capsule of Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space.
A three-crew Vostok variant, the Voskhod-1(1964).
The Voskhod-2, which had been used with 2 crew and an airlock for the first space walk.
The Soyuz-3 capsule, the first successful Soyuz mission.
No less than five other Soyuz capsules, including the capsule used in the Soyuz-Apollo mission.
So a total of five Vostok style capsules and six Soyuz capsules!
Soyuz and Vostok capsulesScotsman in an authentic Soyuz capsule
I very much enjoyed the RSC Energia tour, even without Vostok 1.
Finally, note that Moscow now has three Cosmonautics museums:
The new Cosmos Museum inside VDNKh. This is a good large museum, but almost all the exhibits are mockups or replicas. The Vostok-1 is only there temporarily.
The older Museum of Cosmonautics, just outside VDNKh. This is mostly replicas, but has a few original pieces, notably two Soyuz capsules and Michael Collin’s Apollo-11 spacesuit.
The restricted-access RSC Energia Museum out at Korolev City, which has many original capsules.
I visited the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Dec 14th-17th 2010 for the Soyuz TMA-20 launch. (Here are highlights and a photo archive.) For anyone considering this trip, here are a few details on tour logistics.
Permissions and Entry Formalities
Baikonur is inside of Kazakhstan but is under Russian administration. It is a secure zone, with controlled access.
You can NOT travel around Baikonur on your own. You need to have special permission from the Baikonur authorities, which means that you need to travel as part of an authorized tour group, with a guide. It can take up to 45 days to get this permission, so book early.
We flew from Moscow to Baikonur. At the Baikonur airport there were both Russian and Kazakh officials meeting our flight. Our Baikonur guide was waiting for us, with a permit listing our names. The Russian official looked quickly at our passports to check that our names were on this approved list and then waved us through. Our passports were not stamped. The tour permit meant we had permission to visit the Baikonur area, but not to enter the rest of Kazakhstan.
I asked our guide what would happen if I had a Kazakh visa? She assured me that in that case I could ask the Kazakh official at the airport to stamp a Kazakh entry stamp into my passport and then I would be able to travel on into other parts of Kazakhstan. Note that I didn’t actually try it, and perhaps my guide was mistaken. But it seems like a plausible solution: there must be occasional travellers who would like to enter at Baikonur and then travel to other parts of Kazakhstan.
You will need a double-entry Russia visa if you plan to fly back to Moscow.
During the tour, our guide was always with us. There were frequent security checkpoints inside the Cosmodrome. I think our guide was supposed to stay with us even in Baikonur City itself, but in practice no one seemed to mind when I quietly wandered out of the hotel and strolled around the city on my own.
Flights
There are regular Ural Air flights from Moscow Domodedovo (DME) to Baikonur Krainiy airport. Currently these leave Moscow around 09:10 on Tuesday and Friday mornings, returning from Baikonur around 16:50 on Tuesday and Friday afternoons. [Update June 2012: The Ural Air flights seem to have been discontinued. Drat. That leaves only charter flights.]
The tour companies will schedule your trip around the available flights. For example, with the current Ural Air schedule, for a Wednesday launch they would fly you in on Tuesday and back out on Friday (a four day tour). For a Monday launch they would fly you in on Friday and out on Tuesday (a five day tour).
If you are very lucky, you might arrive two days ahead of the launch, in which case you will be able to see the Soyuz rollout from the assembly building to the launch pad. The tour companies promise this as a feature of their tours, but you need to be a little lucky for the flights and launch times to align correctly.
Tour Companies
Several Moscow tour agencies offer Baikonur tours from Moscow. I went with Country of Tourism (aka BestRussian) who currently charge 3200 Euros for a shared room or 3500 Euros for a single. RusAdventures also look good, they currently charge 4600 dollars.
The Moscow agencies don’t actually operate the tours themselves. In Baikonur we were met by a guide from a local Baikonur company “TourService”, who told us they operated all the tours from Moscow.
So the main differences between the Moscow agencies are in the support they offer at the Moscow end (for example RusAdventures include Moscow airport transfers and a Moscow hotel stay before and after the trip). Also, keep an eye on whether they are promising a single room, as unless you are explicitly promised a single you may find yourself sharing with a stranger. This happened to two people in our group.
I was happy with the support offered by BestRussian. They did a good job of keeping me up-to-date on the shifting launch schedule and were helpful on Moscow departure and return.
It is possible you might be able to save some money by bypassing the Moscow agencies and arranging a tour directly with TourService. (In Russian ТУР СЕРВИС. In English they spell their name as TourService or TourServise or TourServis or TurServis.) I haven’t been able to find a website for them unfortunately. The Bradt Kazakhstan guidebook recommends them and says their email is BaikonurTour@bk.ru Another possible email is BaikonurTourServise@mail.ru
Visiting Baikonur from Kazakhstan
In 2008 I was visiting Kazakhstan and I tried to arrange a visit from Almaty to Baikonur for a Progress cargo launch. But I failed miserably. I tried to contact about six different agencies who claimed to offer Baikonur launch tours, without getting anywhere. The normally very helpful StanTours gently advised me that they were unable to recommend any tour agency. You may have better luck, but it seems that the launch tours are targeted at tourists coming from Moscow. If you want to try visiting Baikonur from Kazakhstan, I would suggest contacting TourService in Baikonur and perhaps arrange for them to pick you up and drop you off at the Baikonur train station (the station name is Tiuratam aka Tyuratam).
Guide Books & Launch Status Updates
The Lonely Planet Central Asia guide doesn’t have much to say about Baikonur. The Bradt Kazakhstan guide is much better, with eight useful pages, but no map. Baikonur city maps are hard to find, but TourService gave us a detailed city and cosmodrome map as an arrival gift.
The Russian space agency RosCosmos publish frequent English language press releases, including lots of information on the progress of any upcoming launches. CBS news publish detailed launch schedule information. A broader overview of upcoming launches is available at SpaceflightNow.
Tour Details
Our tour group in December had a total of six people. We were told we were all the tourists visiting the launch. There were also press and various Roscosmos/ESA/NASA guests, but still probably under 200 total observing the launch. Our little group of six travelled in a small minibus. Having such a small group worked out really well. Most of us were of course really keen space buffs.
We were told there might be as many as 100 visitors for a summer launch. “Half students, half tourists”. Apparently people avoid winter launches from a fear that they will be very cold. In fact in December it was only a few degrees below freezing; it felt chilly rather than arctic. Based on my experience I’d recommend a winter launch: the small group size made up for the chill. Baikonur is in a very dry area, so you are unlikely to see much snow.
At Baikonur, we were put in the soviet-era Tsentralnaya Hotel. This is a little dated and basic, but quite adequate. We were taken to a nearby restaurant for all our meals (including breakfast). The food was good and plentiful!
The tour companies make various claims about how far you will be from the launch. This will vary a little depending on which pad is used. The TMA-20 launch was from the Gagarin pad (hurrah!) and according to my GPS log, our observation point was 1.4 km (0.9 miles) from the pad. Which is pretty good.
We were allowed to drive over to the pad about one hour after the launch. We were allowed up to about 50 meters from the pad, so we saw the launch gantries up quite close. But (despite what the tour companies promise) we were not allowed near the flame pit and we did not get to feel any warm concrete!
In addition to the launch, as part of our tour we got to:
visit the Baikonur Cosmodrome Museum (which was great fun)
visit the Baikonur City Museum (rather less interesting)
clamber around on a Buran/Energia transporter vehicle (it’s #$%@ enormous)
walk around on the Buran/Energia pad (with an enthusiastic narrative from one of the Buran engineers)
visit inside the Soyuz assembly building (seeing boosters and an assembled launch vehicle)
visit the unexpectedly interesting International Space School, a local children’s school which just happens to be well stocked with original artifacts from the Soviet space program.
visit Gagarin’s cottage, Korolev’s house, the Gagarin summerhouse, etc.
visit various monuments in Baikonur City, including laying flowers at the Nedelin monument.
The tour was well organized and our guide was very helpful. At various of the sites there would be an on-site Russian speaking guide and our guide would translate.
For souvenirs we were taken to Baikonur’s main market, where a few stalls sell mostly Kazakh souvenirs (e.g. hats and toy camels). Led by a very determined rocket-seeking Frenchman, we eventually hunted down a good selection of space related souvenirs (such as model Soyuz rockets) cunningly hidden in an optician’s shop. Take the Arbat about two blocks north from the main square, and look for a small optician’s about ten meters west down a side street.
Conclusion
Overall it was a really fun trip. If you are a space buff, I strongly recommend it!
If you are planning a Baikonur trip and have any questions, feel free to email me: “thewanderingscot” at the site “yandex.com” and I’ll do my best to answer.
I was at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to watch the Soyuz TMA-20 launch. It was spectacular. I strongly recommend it. (Tour Logistics.) (More Baikonur photos.)
I found myself in a tour group of six: our guide told us we were all the tourists visiting the launch. There were also some press, and various Roscosmos/ESA/NASA guests, but it looked like there were still well under 200 observers in total. So it was a much more intimate event than a shuttle launch at Kennedy.
Before the launch we got to see lots of cool toys from the Soviet space program, including a lot of the machinery for the Energia/Buran shuttle. This included sitting in the pilot seats of a full-scale Buran mock-up, clambering over a giant Buran transporter vehicle and then waking around a launch pad. The transporter and launch pad felt like relics from some alien civilization: enormous, exotic, and standing mysteriously abandoned.
Our hosts still suffered from a little Cold War competitive spirit: we were vigorously assured that the N1 rocket was the most powerful launcher ever, and that Buran was much larger/better than the shuttle. (This is not quite how Western sources see it!)
They let our little group into the Soyuz assembly building, so we got to see some Soyuz boosters and then a complete Soyuz launch vehicle up close. A lady guard wagged an indulgent finger when I dared to reach over and touch an engine.
The TMA-20 launch itself was striking. On the pad, the Soyuz sits slightly below ground level, with about half of the first stage boosters below ground. So we couldn’t directly see the initial ignition, just a sudden out-pour of smoke and spreading fire across to one side, which for a fraction of a second made me fear an accident, but no, the craft started to rise and then abruptly there was an intensely bright flame, presumably as we could now see the engines directly for the first time, a dazzling bright fireball, rising very quickly into the sky. Then a few second later a very loud rumbling sound arrived. After we first saw the engines, I never saw the craft itself – the engines were far, far too bright.
It was spectacular. Much more striking than the STS-129 shuttle launch I saw, probably both because we were so much closer (0.9 miles versus 6 miles) and because this was a night launch.
They let us visit close to the launch pad (which was the original Gagarin pad!) about an hour after the launch. So we could see the re-assembled launch gantries and the launch pad itself up close. But they wouldn’t let us into the flame pit, so we couldn’t actually feel the residual launch heat. Drat.
If you are a space buff, I highly recommend this tour. I’ve posted a page on Baikonur Logistics to provide more information on entry formalities, flights, tour companies, etc.
I took the Metro out to the VDNKh stop. As you emerge, you see the stunning soaring tower of the Monument to the Conquerors of Space. 100 meters of titanium clad concrete, thrusting a rocket ship into the cosmos. Build back in 1964, as a tribute to the bold new Soviet Cosmonauts and the Brave New Soviet Future, it seems like a strange relic of an almost forgotten past, but it is also truly striking: sometimes Soviet art could make the leap to inspirational.
The base of the Monument has a much more mundane example of Soviet art: a dull triumphal parade of heroic workers, with Lenin pointing the way.
Nearby are busts of the early Cosmonauts and a full statue (in almost Lenin-like splendor) of Sergei Korolev, the legendary Chief Designer of the Soviet rocket program.
GagarinKorolev
Vosotok 1
Underground, below the Monument, is the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics. This has a large and impressive collection of spacecraft and cosmonaut paraphernalia. There are many models and replicas, but also some startling original pieces.
In the entry hall is a replica of Gagarin’s Vostok-1 capsule. (The original capsule is at the RSC Energia Museum outside of Moscow.) The capsule was more spacious than I expected – it seemed significantly bigger than John Glenn’s in the Smithsonian.
And their spaceship.
Nearby, the stuffed doggies are Belka and Strelka, the first Space Dogs to return safely from orbit, posing beside their little capsule.
With authentic Soyuz re-entry capsule
Several of the Soyuz capsules were clearly authentic, with real re-entry burns. I particularly liked the dramatic layout of “Cosmonauts in the Snow” with the cosmonauts awaiting their recovery helicopter. The accompanying Soyuz craft boasts some extremely authentic looking re-entry scars.
And there is a wide assortment of later artifacts, including Michael Collins’ Apollo suit and a replica MIR space station.
I had bought my “Launch Transportation Ticket” for the STS-129 Space Shuttle launch within seconds of them becoming available (at 8:59:40 EST on October 20th). This ticket gets you out to the NASA Causeway, which at six miles away is as close as the general public is allowed to a shuttle launch.
I got up bright and early for the launch, left the Radisson at 6:01am and was parked at the Kennedy Visitor Center by 6:26, way early for my designated 7:00am arrival. And it would probably have been fine to arrive by 9:00 or later. As I drove in, I saw lots of cars heading into the NASA staff road.
Fortunately the Visitor Center was already open by 6:30am and I was able to visit the Rocket Garden, which includes a fine Saturn 1-B; and the astronaut memorial. I got on the LTT bus at 11:45am. On boarding, they took our LTT tickets, but gave us vouchers that gave us priority (but not a guarantee) for buying new tickets at the Visitor Center in the event of a late scrub. (Good: I had been worried about that.)
At the NASA Causeway, I ambled down to the extreme left end and secured a spot at the top of the metal bleachers by 12:25. In theory these are reserved for Boeing guests, but our bus driver had gently hinted that probably no-one would mind if we (discreetly) wandered in. They ended up less than a quarter full, with most people standing or sitting in camp-chairs. So I got an excellent unobstructed view.
The afternoon was overcast (good from a temperature and sun-protection point of view) and there were very strong breezes, but apparently neither factor was an issue for the launch.
As scheduled, at 2:28pm we got a beautiful, glorious, clean lift-off. Now, the shuttle was six miles away and was a barely visible half-matchstick in the distance. But the launch generated a vast cloud of steam (from the sound suppression water system) and then a vast contrail, with an intense burning light from the engines, so it was very visible. I’ll confess that I was mostly looking through my viewfinder – I got some good snaps.
It was much smokier (actually steamier), much brighter and much quieter than I had expected. The smoke/steam does come across on TV, but the raw brightness doesn’t. The steam obscured the engines for the first few seconds, but then they were very bright! I had anticipated a major roar of noise, even at six miles. But there was only a mild rumble and then some quiet pops of sonic booms. (But I was in the middle of an excited and noisy crowd.) It was a pretty impressive sight, but at the same time, it was kind of brief and distant, so there was an odd mixture of wild excitement and a tinge of oh-my-god-its-already-almost-over.
On the way back to the Visitor Center, we got a sales pitch from the driver about supporting NASA, the Shuttle , and space exploration in general. He fell into a few of the standard “do this for side effects” weak arguments but actually mostly kept to the “do it for the adventure” spirit, which is the one that sells me.
It was a great experience. If you haven’t seen a launch yet, do it now, while you still can.
