The head part of the R-2A and two dogs astronaut after returning to Earth
Kapustin Yar (also known as Znamensk) is one of the Soviet military polygon whose squares were developed, and then made the first space launch. The landfill was established 13 may 1946 and in the end of last week celebrated their 70th anniversary. On this occasion, the Ministry of defence of the Russian Federation declassified old photos of the landfill, allowing one eye to look not only at a secret military facility, but actually to the birth of the Soviet space program.
The landfill is located in the southern part of Russia, in the North-Western part of the Astrakhan region. Here was produced and developed more than one generation of defensive and offensive missiles, including ballistic, and science, and early orbital, and even testing of nuclear spins. However, perhaps the most famous and interesting event, associated with the landfill, who later became the launch site, is a series of space launches involving animals (dogs, to be precise). It is from here to a height of 210 kilometers was raised in the years 1957-1960 these dogs, as Red, King, Squirrel, Bug, Cusack (she later called Brave, as he rose into the stratosphere 4 times).
Until 1959 Kapustin Yar was the only one known to the public of the Soviet missile testing ground. Many Western observers initially believed that the launch of the first artificial satellites Sputnik 1 and Sputnik-2″ was made here. However, it was until, until everything is learned about the existence of the world’s first and largest cosmodrome, in the steppes of Kazakhstan.
Kapustin Yar is used today. The polygon is used not only for testing new types of weapons, military equipment and aerospace research, but also is the largest military training center of the Russian armed forces. Below you can see the photos that captured the moments of the birth of Soviet rocket.
Tactical ballistic missile R-11 in the stowed position
The Layout Of The “Sputnik 2”
A combination of ballistic long-range missiles R-2
The Model Of “Sputnik-1”
Geophysical rockets R-2A and R-5A
Missile R-5M, adopted on 21 June 1956, became the first domestic missile complex with nuclear combat equipment
Preparation of the missile complex R-5M
Installation warheads
Set the rocket on the launch pad
Small meteorological rocket MMR-0,5
Meteorological rocket Mr-1
The Layout Of The Sputnik-3″
Rocket R-1
The head of the rocket R-5A and dog
With the rest of the photos can be found here.
#photo | Declassified pictures of the birth of the Soviet space program
Nikolai Khizhnyak