Vostochny Cosmodrome First Launch
A firsthand account Alexander Milkus (Komsomolskay Pravda) Thu, Apr 28, 2016 Originally appeared at Komsomolskay Pravda. Translated by Julia Rakhmetova and Rhod Mackenzie This report of the first launch from the Vostochny Cosmodrome was written by the editor of the science section of one of the most popular newspapers in Russia … Before this first and probably most important launch over last two decades in Russian space history, I had visited the Vostochny Cosmodrome several times. I slipped on dirty puddles around steel pins that should have been concreted. I saw a cardboard door with a scribbled note from before the visit of a Moscow commission: “Give our salaries back!” Finally, paved roads appeared, a “space” style administrative building, houses for engineers in the town with a new name – Tsiolkovsky. Then a proud mobile service tower that looked like a gigantic nesting box. Finally, workers dirty with mud and paint gave way to people wearing bright vests with insignias of famous space enterprises… Walking around the huge Assembly and Testing Facility where they can assemble and simultaneously prepare for launch four Soyuz rockets, I thought it was sad that the story of such a spaceport started with a series of scandals and jailing of swindlers. I also thought it was good that they didn’t persist in launching the rocket only when everything had been checked for the third time (or...
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