The head of the R-2A rocket and two astronaut dogs after returning to Earth
Kapustin Yar (also known as Znamensk) is one of the Soviet military training grounds, in the areas of which space rockets were developed and then launched. The landfill was founded on May 13, 1946 and at the end of last week celebrated its 70th anniversary. On this occasion, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation declassified the old photos of the training ground, allowing one eye to look not only at a secret military facility, but actually at the origin of the Soviet space program.
The landfill is located in the southern part of Russia, in the northwestern part of the Astrakhan region. More than one generation of defensive and offensive missiles was produced and developed here, including ballistic, scientific, and early orbital ones, and even tests of nuclear launches were carried out. However, perhaps the most famous and interesting event associated with this training ground, which later became a cosmodrome, is a series of space launches involving animals (dogs, to be more precise). It was from here that dogs such as the Red, the Damka, the Squirrel, the Bug, the Kusachka (she was later called the Brave, as she climbed into the stratosphere 4 times) climbed to a height of 210 kilometers in 1957-1960.
Until 1959, Kapustin Yar was the only publicly known Soviet missile range. Many Western observers initially believed that the launch of the first artificial Earth satellites "Sputnik-1" and "Sputnik-2" was carried out from here. However, this was until everyone knew about the existence of the world's first and largest Baikonur cosmodrome, located in the steppes of Kazakhstan.
Kapustin Yar is used now. The training ground 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 find photos that capture the moments of the birth of Soviet rocket science.
R-11 tactical ballistic missile in stowed position
Layout "Sputnik-2"
Road train with a long-range ballistic missile R-2
Layout "Sputnik-1"
Geophysical rockets R-2A and R-5A
The R-5M missile system, put into service on June 21, 1956, became the first Russian missile system with nuclear combat equipment
R-5M missile system preparation
Warhead Installation
Installing a rocket on the launch pad
Small meteorological rocket MMP-0.5
Meteorological rocket MP-1
Layout "Sputnik-3"
Rocket R-1
R-5A missile head and dog
Other photos are available .
The article is based on materials .
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