RUSSIA From its beginnings with the launch of Sputnik 1, the Soviet venture into space was characterized both by a slow,
steady progress and by a determined exploitation of the space environment to meet a broad spectrum of national goals. Russia possesses a respectable array of spaceflight operational skills. With about 60 space launches each year, a permanently manned space station, a tested but now mothballed "super booster," a robust array of applications programs, and a respectable scientific program including interplanetary missions, the nation at the end of the 20th century appeared able to hold its own with the best efforts of the rest of the world. These highly visible strengths, however, were accompanied by some equally obvious shortcomings that threaten the future of this program despite its glorious past. Following the collapse of the Soviet regime in 1991, it took several years for a successor space agency to get organized and assure funding. The main space center, Baikonur, found itself located in the independent nation of Kazakhstan and encountered severe problems of supplies and technical support. Launch Facilities The busiest Russian spaceport is located at Plesetsk, north of Moscow. Built in 1960 as a base for
military missiles, it was converted to space missions in 1966. Because of the primarily military nature of the orbital launches taking place there, the base's existence was officially unacknowledged until 1983, when an admission was prompted by widespread public anxiety in the region over mysterious lights in the skyÑactually,
satellite launchings from the base. All manned Russian space missions originate at the so-called Baikonur Cosmodrome. Despite its name, the facility does not lie near the village of Baikonur but instead near the village of Tyura Tam, just east of the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan. Tyura Tam has been enveloped by a new town, named Leninsk, that houses the facility's personnel. Large booster rockets such as Proton and Energiya, in addition to all interplanetary missions, are also launched from Baikonur, as well as several special-purpose military missions. A third, small launch facility was located at Kapustin Yar, on the lower Volga River. Although the base mainly performs sounding-rocket operations, small-satellite launchings occurred at the facility occasionally, until shutdown in 1989.