From the launch pad of Baikonur, from where Buran was launched, the equipment was stolen

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia conducts investigative actions to theft of equipment from the site of the Baikonur cosmodrome, which was used to launches the Soviet Lun-Lunar N-1 launch vehicle and the Energia Super-Legal Rocket with the Buran spacecraft, the press service of the Center for Operating Operations of ground space infrastructure (Tsenka, the structure of Roskosmos) told TASS.

Details of theft did not bring there, specifying only that all circumstances and involved persons would be established during the investigation. According to the REN TV channel, the head of the security service of the FSUE "Tsanki" - "Space Center" Yuzhny said to the police about the loss of parts with precious rare -earth metals from the launch pad N110.

The theft was discovered on February 19, before that the radio components were last seen on the site on February 1. The front door of the N3 building, where the launch pad is located, was hacked. A criminal case has been opened. According to the channel, material damage is estimated at more than 5 thousand rubles.

The N110 site is currently mothballed. Systems and units are intelligent, their operating life ended more than 20 years ago, the Tsanka said.

Most automatic control systems were not put into operation and partially dismantled for improvements in the USSR, ”the representative of the center emphasized. According to him, the element base installed in these systems is now no longer used in industry.

The N110 launching pad was built in 1969 under the project of the Soviet super-heavy rocket N-1, which in the future was to be used for lunar and Martian programs. All four test launches N-1 were unsuccessful. After they refused the project, the site was not used for almost 20 years. In the 1980s, Energia began to be prepared under the superheavy missile.

On November 15, 1988, the first and only launch of the reusable orbital missileplane "Buran", conceived as the answer to the American "shuttle", was made from the site. After the collapse of the USSR, the N110 site has never been used for launches.

Now it is fenced around the entire perimeter with barbed wire, but it is not equipped with the alarm. Inside it is guarded by nine guards, and from the outside - a police patrol.

#Exclusive

Parts with precious rare earth metals were stolen from the launch pad N110 at the Baikonur cosmodrome. The head of the security service, the employees of which ensure the defense of the facility: https://t.co/jvizw11hov pic.twitter.com/idmxQuebkv applied to the police.

- REN TV | News (@Rentvchannel) march 2, 2021

In December 2020, in Taganrog from the IL-80 air command, known as the "Judgment Day" , the equipment was abducted by more than 1 million rubles. From the compartments of the aircraft driven to the Taganrog-Yuzhnoye airfield, 39 radio-house blocks and five more of five of the same dismantled blocks were lost.

Journalists found that 24 million rubles were allocated to protect the airfield in 2020, while a detailed airport plan, the location of all security posts, checkpoints, rapid response groups and even the surveillance survey sector were published in the procurement documentation.