Baikonur Site 31, also known as Site 31/6 at the
Baikonur Cosmodrome, in
Kazakhstan, is a launch site used by derivatives of the
R-7 Semyorka missile. Since Roscosmos' change from flying crew on the
Soyuz-FG to the
Soyuz-2 launch vehicle for crewed flights in 2020, it has served as the primary launch site for
Soyuz flights to the
International Space Station. It took over from
Site 1/5 (Gagarin's Start) since it failed to receive funding to modernize it for the slightly larger Soyuz-2 rocket.[1]
It was first used on 14 January 1961, for an
R-7AICBM test mission. As of 2023 it is currently used for
Soyuz-2 launches. In the 1970s and early 1980s, several crewed missions were launched from the site.
A panorama of the Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 31 taken from atop the
Soyuz support structure. A
Zenit facility can be seen in the distance.
«A breakthrough in space» - Konstantin Vasilyevich Gerchik, M: LLC "Veles", 1994 -
ISBN5-87955-001-X;
"Testing of rocket and space technology - the business of my life" Events and facts -
A.I. Ostashev,
Korolyov, 2001
[1];
"Baikonur. Korolev. Yangel" - M. I. Kuznetsk, Voronezh: IPF "Voronezh", 1997,
ISBN5-89981-117-X;
"Look back and look ahead. Notes of a military engineer" - Rjazhsky A. A., 2004, SC. first, the publishing house of the "Heroes of the Fatherland"
ISBN5-91017-018-X.
"Rocket and space feat Baikonur" - Vladimir Порошков, the "Patriot" publishers 2007.
ISBN5-7030-0969-3
"Unknown Baikonur" - edited by B. I. Posysaeva, M.: "globe", 2001.
ISBN5-8155-0051-8