Plesetsk will become New Baikonur
Yesterday in Plesetsk they considered the draft Federal Target Program for the development of this cosmodrome. This is a program of enormous importance. Its implementation will allow Russia to gain guaranteed access to space and, in the future, to abandon the Baikonur Cosmodrome it currently leases from Kazakhstan. With details - IVAN Y-SAFRONOV.

It is no coincidence that the draft Federal Target Program for the Development of the Plesetsk Cosmodrome appeared right now. After all, in 2014, the lease of Baikonur from Kazakhstan will expire. (Russia pays $115 million annually for its rent.) In order to create the necessary infrastructure in Plesetsk by this time, we must act today.
In the former Soviet Union there were two main cosmodromes - Baikonur and Plesetsk. But unlike other space powers, they did not duplicate each other. Thus, only at Baikonur were the launch complexes of Proton launch vehicles built, with the help of which communications satellites, including military ones, were delivered to geostationary orbit, in addition, only from here were manned launches carried out. Mostly military satellites were launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome: reconnaissance, navigation, communications, missile attack warning, meteorology. And although launches from Plesetsk began only in 1966, just three years later it was ahead of Baikonur in terms of the intensity of space launches and held the lead until 1993. As a result, the world’s northernmost cosmodrome becomes the most active not only in the country, but also in the world: almost 40% of satellites launched from all cosmodromes in the world launched from there.
After the collapse of the Union, when the Baikonur cosmodrome became the property of sovereign Kazakhstan, it was decided to gradually transfer launches of Russian military vehicles from there to Plesetsk. This step was dictated by the need for Russia to have guaranteed access to space from its national territory: Astana could at any time prohibit Moscow from using its cosmodrome for Russian military needs. However, the transfer of space programs from the south to the north did not happen then due to lack of funds. And after, starting in 1997, almost all launch and technical complexes of Baikonur were transferred from the Ministry of Defense to the Russian Aerospace Agency, RAKA, on the contrary, began to transfer launches of Russian satellites from Plesetsk to Baikonur. As a result, in 1999, only six satellites were launched from Plesetsk, while from Baikonur - 38. In order to put an end to this alarming trend, the Federal Target Program for the development of the Plesetsk Cosmodrome was developed. The program provides for the creation in Plesetsk of a universal launch complex for the Angara space rocket. As a Kommersant correspondent was told at the Khrunichev Center (where the Angara is being developed), its first launch from Plesetsk should take place in 2002. It is the Angara that will become the main Russian space carrier of the 21st century.
In the meantime, Plesetsk plans to make more active use of existing launch vehicles for commercial launches. Thus, in the spring of this year the launch of the Cosmos-3M carrier with German and Italian satellites should take place. Also in the spring, commercial launches of the Rokot launch vehicle should begin. Its commercial operation is carried out by the Eurockot company, created by the Khrunichev Center and the German corporation DaimlerChrysler Aerospace. It is this company that has so far made the largest financial contribution ($50 million) to the development of Plesetsk infrastructure.
As a high-ranking source in the White House told Kommersant, “the implementation of the Federal Target Program for the Development of Plesetsk will allow Russia by 2010 to be able to launch into all types of orbits from the northern cosmodrome, thereby providing the country with guaranteed and independent access to space.”

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 28 dated February 19, 2000, p. 2

Authors:

Ivan Safronov