Now it’s already impossible to determine exactly when mankind first thought about space flights, but managed to realize this cherished dream in the twentieth century. Scientific and technological progress has reached a level when it became possible to overcome the Earth's gravity and put a spaceship into orbit. The first was succeeded by Soviet scientists and rocket scientists. They fly from special areas called cosmodromes. Let's go on a trip. No, not into space, but across the Earth, and consider the largest cosmodromes of the planet.
10
Sea Launch "Odyssey"
We begin the review with the largest mobile spaceport, the starting point of which is located on Christmas Island. This is a joint program of the USA, Russia, Ukraine and Norway on the implementation of launches of Zenit complexes.
The idea is that launching from the equator will provide minimal costs, since it allows you to effectively use the speed of rotation of the Earth to bring orbital complexes into space. For launches, the most calm and farthest place from the sea routes in the Pacific Ocean was chosen. The offshore site was prepared by Norwegian shipbuilders, a Ukrainian-made rocket with software from the Russian Energy Corporation and the American Boeing.
The first launch took place in 1999. Today, 32 spacecraft have left the Sea Launch in the sky. There were 3 unsuccessful launches. Now the program has partially gone bankrupt, but a revival of launches is planned.
9
Taiyuan. China
In 1988, the Chinese launched a new spaceport, which they built in Shanxi. This is the highest such complex, which is located at an altitude of 1,500 meters above sea level.
The construction of the complex took 20 years. The spaceport covers an area of 375 km². On its territory there are launching sites, a command post, as well as huge tanks for storing fuel. It was planned to use its potential for testing military missiles, but then many military programs were canceled.
The official name is Uchzhai, and they use it mainly to launch unmanned aerial vehicles of their own design. Now, with increasing demand, the Chinese authorities have begun to attract foreign investment widely, launching foreign research and meteorological satellites into orbit.
8
Utinoura. Japan
In 1961, Japanese builders began the construction of their own spaceport for the implementation of national space projects. In August 1962, the K150 rocket was successfully launched.
In the 70-80s, the Japanese successfully implemented their own space programs, and also actively used Utinoura to launch commercial spacecraft. The most successful were the launches of the L-4S-5 launch vehicles. It was this rocket carrier in 1970 that launched the first Japanese artificial satellite, Osumi.
In total, 5 launching facilities for various types of launch vehicles are operating at the Japanese cosmodrome, located on the Pacific coast. The Japanese are actively using the power of their space center to launch solid rockets for scientific research.
7
Shriharikota. India
The Satish Dhawan Indian Launch Center received its name from the island of the same name on which it is located. It was founded in 1970 and is controlled by the federal government of the country.
Its main advantage is its direct proximity to the equator. The first launch was made in 1979, and in 2003 the first Indian interplanetary station set off from its site for the exploration of Mars. Among the significant launches, it is worth noting the launch of Chandrayan-1, which became the first step in the Indian national moon exploration program.
Now there are two launch sites at the Indian complex, but it is planned to expand and build a new launch to implement the new space program.
6
Plesetsk. Russia
The first Soviet and Russian spaceport, which is widely used by the Ministry of Defense, as well as to launch unmanned spacecraft. It was put into operation in 1966, when the first rocket was launched from it.
Today it is the largest launch complex with a total area of 1,762 km². In addition to launch starts, the infrastructure includes multiple observation and research centers, an airfield, command post and energy supply facilities.
From the start of launches to the present day, more than 2 thousand successful launches have been made from the cosmodrome located in the Arkhangelsk region. In recent years, it has become widely used in the Russian missile defense system.
5
Xichang. China
The Chinese government, after the successes of the USSR and the USA in space exploration, in 1967 adopted its own program of manned launches. It was planned to send Chinese cosmonauts into orbit in 1973.
To this end, in the province of Sichuan, they began to build a launch complex for the implementation of the national program No. 174 "Shuguan-1 spacecraft." The project has remained unrealized, as it was curtailed due to funding problems. Many talented rocket launchers and Chinese designers were repressed.
It was possible to complete the construction of a new cosmodrome only in 1984. Now there are two launch complexes and 5 systems providing flight control, as well as monitoring of meteorological changes.
4
Jiuquan. China
On the banks of the Heihe River in the Chinese province of Ganshu, launch complexes of the Jiuquan Cosmodrome are located. It began to operate in 1958. The complex itself and a nearby landfill occupies a total area of 2,800 km².
The first launches were carried out in collaboration with Soviet specialists. On the first rocket launched from the Chinese spaceport, there was the stigma “Made in the USSR”. Then, Chinese experts developed their own national space programs. Now two of the three launch complexes are mothballed, as a moratorium on the launch of military missiles has been declared.
China is actively using its space platform to attract foreign investment. Since 1990, Chinese missiles have been actively launched from Tszyujtsuan, launching foreign satellites into orbits.
3
Kuru. France / European Union
A large spaceport located in the French authorities was built in French Guiana in northeastern Latin America. The Gwana Space Center, as its official name is, stretches along the Atlantic coast between towns for 60 km, and the center is 20 km wide. Near the small town of Kourou.
Construction began in 1964, and in 1968 the first successful launch was made from its launch pad. 7 years after the first launch, the French government appealed to the European powers to jointly use the spaceport in South America. A special interstate organization was created to organize flights and program financing.
The space center "Kuru" is located 500 kilometers from the equator, which makes it easy to adjust the orbits of launched satellites. In 2007, Russian specialists began to build the Russian launch for Soyuz-2 on Kura. The Russian carrier rocket sailed into space from the South American Cosmodrome in October 2011.
2
Cape Canaveral. USA
The American spaceport on the coast of Florida consists of two complexes. From launch pads, spacecraft are launched. The U.S. Air Force missiles are also being tested there. Nearby is the Space Center, named after John F. Kennedy.
In 1958, the first American satellite Explorer-1 was sent into orbit from here. In 1961, the Americans sent their first astronaut into space. The spaceport has a complex structure, part of the launch sites are located on nearby islands. In addition, there are multiple landing strips, as the Americans widely use reusable spaceships.
Today, of all the launch sites built in the twentieth century, only four are active. Near the space complexes, platforms were erected from which the largest military unmanned missiles are launched.
1
Baikonur. Kazakhstan / Russia
The first and largest spaceport in the history of mankind on our planet grew up among the Kazakh steppes in the 1950s of the twentieth century. Under the contract, the rights to it belong to the Russian Federation.
The huge complex covers an area of 6,717 km². On this large territory there is a large number of launching sites for various rocket carriers, assembly and testing complexes, two airfields, the Saturn tracking station and other facilities necessary for servicing flights. The place was not chosen by chance. The proximity to the equatorial line provides less financial and energy costs during launches.
This place is near Leninsk (now Baikonur) and the village of Turatam in the Kzyl-Orda region, from where man began to master the Cosmos. From here, on the Vostok spacecraft, Yuri Gagarin, the first cosmonaut of the Earth, set off for space distances. The countdown of the new space era began on October 4, 1957, when the first satellite created by Soviet designers was launched into orbit from the Baikonur launch pad.
Finally
So we found out where the biggest spaceports are. The word "spaceport" itself consists of two parts. Actually, "space", and the second part of the ancient Greek word for "place to run." A total of 30 cosmodromes on the planet, this is not counting the launch sites of mobile-based. Many of them are already closed. Note that on average about 75 spacecraft launches are performed annually from all sites. But thebiggest editors are confident that this figure will grow year by year.