On this day, humanity first broke through Earth’s atmosphere and began its journey into space, reports the national portal “Adyrna.”
The Road to Space Began in Baikonur
In 1955, the USSR began searching for a suitable location to test its first ballistic missiles. The choice fell on the Kyzylorda region of Kazakhstan, as the area was vast, sparsely populated, and had favorable climate conditions.
On October 4, 1957, the first artificial Earth satellite, Sputnik-1, was launched from Baikonur. Later, on April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into space — also from this very location.
Baikonur Today
Currently, Baikonur is the world’s largest spaceport, equipped with 15 launch complexes capable of launching various rockets into space. Rockets such as Soyuz, Proton, Zenit, and Cyclone, as well as unmanned stations like Luna and Mars, have been launched from here.
On April 8, 2025, the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft was launched from Baikonur for the last time. On board were Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, along with NASA astronaut Jonathan Kim, heading to the International Space Station.
Kazakh Cosmonauts
On October 2, 1991, Toktar Aubakirov became the first Kazakh to fly into space. Between 1994 and 2001, Talgat Musabayev flew into space three times and was listed in the Guinness World Records for spending the longest time in open space.
On September 2, 2015, Aidyn Aimbetov launched into space and spent 10 days working on the International Space Station.
