48-450: Download coordinates as: Plesetsk Cosmodrome (Russian: Космодром «Плесецк» , romanized : Kosmodrom "Plesetsk" , IPA: [kəsmɐˈdrom plʲɪˈsʲet͡sk] ) is a Russian spaceport located in Mirny, Arkhangelsk Oblast , about 800 km north of Moscow and approximately 200 km south of Arkhangelsk . As of 2024, it is Europe's only operational orbital spaceport and
96-402: A Vostok-2 rocket launched Kosmos 112 . In total, 308 orbital and two suborbital launches were conducted from the complex, using R-7A, Vostok-2, Vostok-2M , Voskhod and Soyuz-U rockets. The last launch to use the complex was of a Soyuz-U with Bion 9 on 15 September 1989. Since this launch, the pad has been disassembled. Site 43 , also known as SK-3 and SK-4 , is a launch complex at
144-579: A Latin alphabet for the Russian language was discussed in 1929–30 during the campaign of latinisation of the languages of the USSR , when a special commission was created to propose a latinisation system for Russian. The letters of the Latin script are named in Russian as following (and are borrowed from French and/or German ): Vostok (rocket family) Vostok (Russian: Восток, translated as "East")
192-444: A Latin alphabet, is also essential for computer users to input Russian text who either do not have a keyboard or word processor set up for inputting Cyrillic, or else are not capable of typing rapidly using a native Russian keyboard layout ( JCUKEN ). In the latter case, they would type using a system of transliteration fitted for their keyboard layout , such as for English QWERTY keyboards, and then use an automated tool to convert
240-639: A Working Group of the United Nations , in 1987 recommended a romanization system for geographical names, which was based on the 1983 version of GOST 16876-71 . It may be found in some international cartographic products. American Library Association and Library of Congress (ALA-LC) romanization tables for Slavic alphabets are used in North American libraries and in the British Library since 1975. The formal, unambiguous version of
288-778: A joint decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the USSR Council of Ministers created the "Research Proving Ground missile and space weapons USSR Ministry of Defense" near the Ilez railway station, Belsky District of Arkhangelsk Oblast. In the summer of 1963, the state leadership decided to use the Plesetsk launch facilities for launching spacecraft. In September 1963,
336-405: A missile base, it was converted for use as a space launch complex. The first orbital launch was of a Voskhod rocket with Kosmos 313 on 3 December 1969. Both pads were damaged by explosions in the 1980s. At 16:01 UTC on 18 March 1980, 48 people were killed when a Vostok-2M exploded during fueling operations at Pad 4. The disaster injured dozens more, while damaging the pad so severely that it
384-462: A rocket lost thrust and fell back into the flame trench seconds after launch. Instead, the parts were eventually used on Sea Launch 's Odyssey launch platform. When Russia began development of the Angara rocket, launch pads at both Plesetsk and Baikonur were planned. Several existing sites at Plesetsk were considered, including Site 41/1 , Site 16/2 , and Site 32 ; Site 35/1 was determined to be
432-568: A two launch pads, Site 32/1 and Site 32/2, which were used between 1977 and 2009. It has the GRAU index 11P868 . Site 32 is, along with Site 35 and Site 41 one of three sites under consideration for the Angara programme. In 1970, the building of a highly automated launch complex for Tsyklon-3 booster began at Site 32, which was designed by Omsk Transmash Design Bureau led by Chief Designer Vladimir Nikolayevich Chelomey . The first launch from Site 32
480-641: Is a launch complex used by Russia 's Angara rocket. The complex has a single launch pad , Site 35/1, which was first used for the maiden flight of the Angara in July 2014. Site 35 was originally intended to support the Zenit rocket, which the Soviet Union saw as a replacement for the R-7 series . The construction of a Zenit launch complex at Plesetsk was authorised in 1976; however, development did not begin until
528-479: Is an adoption of an ICAO standard for travel documents. It was used in Russian passports for a short period during 2010–2013 ( see below ). The standard was substituted in 2013 by GOST R ISO/ IEC 7501-1-2013, which does not contain romanization, but directly refers to the ICAO romanization ( see below ). Names on street and road signs in the Soviet Union were romanized according to GOST 10807-78 (tables 17, 18), which
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#1732772965442576-753: Is an equivalent of GOST 16876-71 and was adopted as an official standard of the COMECON . GOST 7.79-2000 System of Standards on Information, Librarianship, and Publishing–Rules for Transliteration of the Cyrillic Characters Using the Latin Alphabet is an adoption of ISO 9:1995 . It is the official standard of both Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). GOST 52535.1-2006 Identification cards. Machine readable travel documents. Part 1. Machine readable passports
624-423: Is based on its predecessor ISO/R 9:1968, which it deprecates; for Russian, the two are the same except in the treatment of five modern letters. ISO 9:1995 is the first language-independent, univocal system of one character for one character equivalents (by the use of diacritics) that faithfully represents the original and allows for reverse transliteration for Cyrillic text in any contemporary language. The UNGEGN ,
672-590: The Baikonur Cosmodrome following the explosion of a Soyuz-U rocket. Work to rebuild the complex began in 1979, and was completed in 1981. The first launch from Site 16 was conducted by a Molniya-M with an Oko satellite on 19 February 1981. Site 16 has been used for Soyuz-U and Molniya-M launches, and is still in service as of 2012. Site 32 at the Cosmodrome is a launch complex formerly used by Tsyklon-3 carrier rockets . It consists of
720-566: The Centre Spatial Guyanais at 5° north or the Kennedy Space Center at 28° 31' north). In addition, the high latitude means that lift capacity for boosters launched from Plesetsk is slightly lower than Baikonur launches. By the 2000s, Russia had completely phased out military launches from Baikonur. The new all-Russian Angara rocket was designed to be launched primarily from Plesetsk (and also eventually from
768-522: The Kazakh SSR . With the end of the Soviet Union , Baikonur became a foreign territory, and Kazakhstan charged $ 115 million usage fees annually. Consequently, Plesetsk has seen considerably more activity since the 2000s. Plesetsk ( 62°55′32.32″N 40°34′40.36″E / 62.9256444°N 40.5778778°E / 62.9256444; 40.5778778 ) is used especially for military satellites placed into high inclination and polar orbits since
816-532: The Vostochny Cosmodrome ). In May 2007, a new ICBM, called the RS-24 has been tested and launched there, and is seen as eventually replacing the aging RS-18/ UR-100Ns (SS-19 Stiletto) and RS-20/ R-36Ms (SS-18 Satan) that are the backbone of Russia's missile forces. In September 2011, Space Forces spokesman Colonel Alexei Zolotukhin said Russia will spend over 5 billion rubles (US$ 170 million) on
864-579: The 19th century. It is based on the Czech alphabet and formed the basis of the GOST and ISO systems. OST 8483 was the first Soviet standard on romanization of Russian, introduced on 16 October 1935. Developed by the National Administration for Geodesy and Cartography at the USSR Council of Ministers , GOST 16876-71 has been in service since 1973. Replaced by GOST 7.79-2000. This standard
912-655: The Angara A5 took place almost six years later, on 14 December 2020. Site 41 , also known as Lesobaza and SK-1 , was a launch complex at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia . It consisted of a single pad, Site 41/1, and was used by R-7 derived rockets between 1959 and 1989. Site 41 was originally built for use by R-7A Semyorka missiles. During the Cuban Missile Crisis , an armed missile
960-435: The Cosmodrome. It consists of a single pad, Site 16/2 , and has been used by R-7 derived rockets since 1960. It has launched a total of 136 rockets across its lifespan. Site 16 was originally built for use by R-7A Semyorka missiles, however no launches were conducted from the complex whilst it was operational. After its retirement from service in 1966, it was cannibalised for parts which were needed to repair Site 31/6 at
1008-463: The Council of Ministers of the USSR 3rd ALM and NIIP converted to "53 minutes Research Proving Ground". Three test management, employees of combat duty, tests of rocket and space complexes, holding and processing of telemetry and trajectory measurements. And from 1964, on the basis of rocket connection started the establishment of research proving ground missiles and space weapons. Such conversion were
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#17327729654421056-619: The Oxford University Press, and a variation was used by the British Library to catalogue publications acquired up to 1975. The Library of Congress system (ALA-LC) is used for newer acquisitions. The BGN/PCGN system is relatively intuitive for Anglophones to read and pronounce. In many publications, a simplified form of the system is used to render English versions of Russian names, typically converting ë to yo , simplifying -iy and -yy endings to -y , and omitting apostrophes for ъ and ь . It can be rendered using only
1104-401: The Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia . It consists of a two pads, Sites 43/3 and 43/4, and has been used by R-7 derived rockets since the early 1960s. The site was originally built for use by R-7A Semyorka missiles. The first launch to use the complex was an R-7A test on 21 December 1965, from Site 43/3. The first launch from 43/4 followed on 25 July 1967. After its retirement from service as
1152-622: The basic letters and punctuation found on English-language keyboards: no diacritics or unusual letters are required, although the interpunct character (·) may be used to avoid ambiguity. This particular standard is part of the BGN/PCGN romanization system which was developed by the United States Board on Geographic Names and by the Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use . The portion of
1200-484: The completion of Site 45 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome , which was also constructed for Zenit. Construction at Site 35 began in the mid-1980s, but the programme was abandoned following the dissolution of the Soviet Union . Following the cancellation of Zenit launches from Plesetsk, Russia had originally planned to use parts constructed for Site 35 to repair one of the Zenit pads at Baikonur that had been heavily damaged when
1248-464: The development and expansion of the cosmodrome in 2011. This includes the reconstruction of a local motorway and modernising the energy supply system. New facilities will be built, including a dormitory and hospital. PL-19 Nudol anti-ballistic missile systems are located at the Cosmodrome, at the former launch site of the Tsyklon-2 rocket. Site 16 , also known as SK-2 , is a launch complex at
1296-399: The existence of Plesetsk Cosmodrome until 1983. The use of the cosmodrome will likely increase in the future since there are concerns with security in operating the Baikonur Cosmodrome in now-independent Kazakhstan , which demands rent for its continued use. Plesetsk is not ideally suited for low inclination or geostationary launches because of its high latitude of 62° north (as compared to
1344-428: The favourable geographical location and a significant number of systems already deployed by the end of 1964 were on duty, four launchers R-7A, seven PU P-16U, and three PU R-9A. Since then, the landfill has developed in two directions: rocket and space. 17 March 1966 was the space birthday of Plesetsk. That day was the first missile launching of the rocket booster Vostok with space vehicle Kosmos 112 . Since that time,
1392-496: The introduction of a dedicated Latin alphabet for writing the Russian language. Such an alphabet would not necessarily bind closely to the traditional Cyrillic orthography. The transition from Cyrillic to Latin has been proposed several times throughout history (especially during the Soviet era), but was never conducted on a large scale, except for informal romanizations in the computer era. The most serious possibility of adoption of
1440-407: The most suitable. Construction began in 2004 but was not completed until April 2014. The Angara made its maiden flight—in the one-off Angara-1.2pp configuration—from Site 35/1 on 9 July 2014, flying a successful suborbital test mission. The first orbital launch from the site was the inaugural launch of the Angara A5 on 23 December 2014, which carried a mass simulator. A second orbital test flight of
1488-484: The new system and the old one, citizens who wanted to retain the old version of a name's transliteration, especially one that had been in the old pre-2010 passport, could apply to the local migration office before they acquired a new passport. The standard was abandoned in 2013. In 2013, Order No. 320 of the Federal Migration Service of Russia came into force. It states that all personal names in
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1536-529: The northernmost spaceport in the world. Originally developed as an ICBM site for the R-7 missile, it has also served for numerous satellite launches using the R-7 and other rockets. Its high latitude makes it useful only for certain types of launches, especially the Molniya orbits , so for much of the site's history it functioned as a secondary location, with most orbital launches taking place from Baikonur , in
1584-599: The orbit of the Kosmos 112 satellite in 1966 and deduced it had not been launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome . Meteor 1-2 satellite launch from Plesetsk on 6 October 1969 was one of the earliest launches observed and photographed from Finland . After the end of the Cold War , it was learned that the CIA had begun to suspect the existence of an ICBM launch site at Plesetsk in the late 1950s. The Soviet Union did not officially admit
1632-459: The passports must be transliterated by using the ICAO system , which is published in Doc 9303 " Machine Readable Travel Documents, Part 3 ". The system differs from the GOST R 52535.1-2006 system in two things: ц is transliterated into ts (as in pre-2010 systems), ъ is transliterated into ie (a novelty). In a second sense, the romanization or Latinization of Russian may also indicate
1680-437: The range for falling debris is clear to the north which is largely uninhabited Arctic and polar terrain. It is situated in a region of taiga , or flat terrain with boreal pine forests. The Soyuz rocket , Cosmos-3M , Rokot , Tsyklon , and Angara are launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. The heavy Proton and Zenit rockets can only be land-launched from Baikonur (Zenit may also be launched at sea). Plesetsk Cosmodrome
1728-562: The rocket base "Angara" has become Plesetsk Cosmodrome. Construction started in 1957 and it was declared operational for R-7 rockets in December 1959. The urban-type settlement of Plesetsk in Arkhangelsk Oblast had a railway station, essential for the transport of missile components. A new town for the support of the facility was named Mirny , Russian for "peaceful". By 1997, more than 1,500 launches to space had been made from
1776-488: The site, more than from any other launch facility, although the usage has declined significantly since the break-up of the Soviet Union. Because Plesetsk was used primarily for military launches, especially Zenit photo reconnaissance satellites , which were launched in large numbers during the 1970s-80s, the USSR did not admit to its existence, but it was discovered by British physics teacher Geoffrey Perry and his students at Kettering Grammar School , who carefully analysed
1824-410: The system for bibliographic cataloguing requires some diacritics, two-letter tie characters , and prime marks. The standard is also often adapted as a "simplified" or "modified Library of Congress system" for use in text for a non-specialized audience, omitting the special characters and diacritics, simplifying endings, and modifying iotated initials. British Standard 2979:1958 is the main system of
1872-556: The system pertaining to the Russian language was adopted by BGN in 1944 and by PCGN in 1947. In Soviet international passports , transliteration was based on French rules but without diacritics and so all names were transliterated in a French-style system . In 1997, with the introduction of new Russian passports , a diacritic-free English-oriented system was established by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs , but
1920-447: The system was also abandoned in 2010. In 2006, GOST R 52535.1-2006 was adopted, which defines technical requirements and standards for Russian international passports and introduces its own system of transliteration. In 2010, the Federal Migration Service of Russia approved Order No. 26, stating that all personal names in the passports issued after 2010 must be transliterated using GOST R 52535.1-2006. Because of some differences between
1968-483: The text into Cyrillic. There are a number of distinct and competing standards for the romanization of Russian Cyrillic , with none of them having received much popularity, and, in reality, transliteration is often carried out without any consistent standards. Scientific transliteration, also known as the International Scholarly System , is a system that has been used in linguistics since
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2016-481: Was a family of rockets derived from the Soviet R-7 Semyorka ICBM and was designed for the human spaceflight programme . This family of rockets launched the first artificial satellite ( Sputnik 1 ) and the first crewed spacecraft ( Vostok ) in human history. It was a subset of the R-7 family of rockets. On March 18, 1980, a Vostok-2M rocket exploded on its launch pad at Plesetsk during
2064-497: Was amended by newer Russian GOST R 52290-2004 (tables Г.4, Г.5), the romanizations in both the standards are practically identical. ISO/R 9, established in 1954 and updated in 1968, was the adoption of the scientific transliteration by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). It covers Russian and seven other Slavic languages. ISO 9:1995 is the current transliteration standard from ISO. It
2112-468: Was conducted from pad 2 on 24 June 1977, with the first from Site 32/1 following on 23 January 1980. The last launch from Site 32/1 occurred on 28 December 2001. Site 32/2 was retired on 30 January 2009, along with the Tsyklon-3. All 122 Tsyklon-3 launches were conducted from the site. 57 launches were recorded as having been from pad 1 and 65 were recorded from pad 2. Site 35 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome
2160-476: Was named after the town of Plesetsk . The first Soviet Combat formation of intercontinental ballistic missiles R-7 of general designer Sergei Korolev had to be located in that place, in thick northern taiga to the south of Arkhangelsk. The official birthday of the proving ground was 15 July 1957. That day Colonel Gregorjev assumed his post as the missile unit commander. By 15 July 1961, four missile complexes for R-7 ICBMs were at combat status. In January 1963,
2208-510: Was not used again until 1984. On 18 June 1987, a Soyuz-U rocket exploded at liftoff on Pad 3. Both were rebuilt, and are in service as of 2009. Romanization of Russian The romanization of the Russian language (the transliteration of Russian text from the Cyrillic script into the Latin script ), aside from its primary use for including Russian names and words in text written in
2256-537: Was originally developed by the Soviet Union as a launch site for intercontinental ballistic missiles under the leadership and supervision of lieutenant general Galaktion Alpaidze . On 11 January 1957, the Soviet government passed the resolution about the foundation of a special military object with the secret name "Angara". This secret object had to be situated in Plesetsk District , Arkhangelsk Oblast. It
2304-432: Was placed on Site 41. It would have had a response time of 8–12 hours should an order have been given to launch it. No launches were conducted from Site 41 whilst it was operational. In 1963, the complex was converted for use by carrier rockets . The first launch from the complex was a suborbital test of an R-7A Semyorka missile, on 14 December 1965. The first orbital launch from the complex occurred on 17 March 1966, when
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