Cosmodrome on suitcases

Baikonur is not only a cosmodrome, but also a city built in the Kazakh steppe, where more than seventy thousand people now live, most of which are not related to space. Like the territory of the entire Baikonur complex, the city is leased by Russia: the head of its administration is appointed by a joint decree of the Presidents of the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan, there are two police, two registry offices, two vessels - and native brothers living in the same apartment may turn out to be citizens of different states. The lease expires in 2050, and what will be next with the complex is unknown: Russia gradually transfer its space launches to the cosmodrome within the country. Audio version of the report of Katerina Kuznetsova and Julia Paskevich .