Cosmonautics. Reference

Kapustin Yar (often abbreviated as Kap-Yar) is a military missile range in the Astrakhan region.
The test site was created in 1946 to test the first Soviet ballistic missiles. Nuclear tests were conducted here (at least 11 nuclear explosions), 24 thousand guided missiles were exploded, 177 samples of military equipment were tested, 619 RSD-10 missiles were destroyed, as Wikipedia tells us.
In fact, this is a huge nuclear and now missile test site where all types of missile weapons have been and are being tested - aviation, air defense from S-25 to S-400, mobile and silo-based ballistic ones. From here Belka and Strelka were launched into space. There is a cosmodrome that is still in operation, a military airfield, and the abandoned and destroyed city of Zhitkur.

The place is well-known, it is mentioned a lot in the literature, Cosmopoisk claims that near Zhitkur there is an underground storage facility for captured UFOs :) So, what is there really at the test site?

The landfill covers an area of ​​approximately 70 by 100 km and is partially abandoned. Throughout the test site, at a distance of several kilometers from each other, there are military units and testing sites, which are called “points.” Some of the points are operational, some are abandoned, but not looted - the windows are intact, but the doors are open, some are abandoned and destroyed, some are used for housing and sheltering livestock by local residents, especially closer to the borders of the landfill. There is a training center, a railway training ground, target sites, operating and abandoned cosmodromes. All steppes are generously strewn with rocket fairings, burnt-out propulsion engines, ejection seats and similar rubbish.

...

The photos are of absolutely terrible quality, sorry. I had to shoot through tinting, at speed and with strong shaking in those moments when I could be distracted from navigation, so that’s what happened.

Catapult seat.

Aerodrome.

Some kind of workshop. Are masts lightning rods?

Fairings? Products?

Active semaphore.

Railway cars after some tests. There is a railway line and a steep hill nearby.

Cattle against the backdrop of an air defense division.

Akhtung minen.

Polygon 200.
Ahead, to the right of the road, a monument rocket is visible.

Experts can begin to guess a variety of techniques.

...

...

Something was constantly flying above us, but nothing was visible in the sky. At some point, a plane appeared, flew over us, and a gap appeared on the horizon.
“Fuck,” I said and thought that we won’t inspect the targets today.

By the way, the locals, when asked why the plane was not visible, answered that it flies “in oxygen,” i.e. at an altitude of 15-20 km. Why in oxygen?

Operating cosmodrome.

-Won’t anything take off now?
- Idk :)

...

This is how it looks from the car :)

There are many buildings, shelters, and sites that have been torn down into rubbish.

What is this? The size is several meters, it stands on an abandoned point.

Suspensions of targets, perhaps.

Observation pavilion.

Well with drinking bowl.

Rocket parts in the national economy. It was very reminiscent of Vietnam and Asian countries, where shells and fragments of bombs were used as best they could.

And camels at sunset here are the same as anywhere else on the planet.

It was not possible to film a lot of things along the way; the old cosmodrome was not found. But this is very interesting.
Is it possible to drive through the test site using a similar route? With good karma, luck and favorable circumstances, perhaps it is possible. But I don’t advise you, and I was asked to tell you that you shouldn’t do this :)

The Kapustin Yar state missile range is located in the steppe area

on the edge of the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain in the northwestern part of the Astrakhan region

near the railway station of the same name.
The area (without falling fields) is about 650 sq. kilometers.
The number of personnel and population of Kapustin Yar is about 50 thousand people.
The climate is continental, temperate, arid.

The cosmodrome plays a big role in training qualified specialists in the field of rocket and space technology.
As a cosmodrome, it has a difficult geopolitical position, since the routes pass over the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

USSR Cosmodrome. Located near the village of Kapustin Yar in the Astrakhan region, in the lower reaches of the Volga at a point with coordinates 48.4 0 north latitude and 56.5 0 east longitude. Designed for launches of combat ballistic missiles, geophysical and meteorological missiles, as well as light space objects. Space objects placed into orbit of an artificial Earth satellite have an orbital inclination to the equatorial plane ranging from 480 to 510. Since 1988, it has ceased to be used. Resumed launches on April 28, 1999. In addition, testing work has resumed at the site. Ideas about creating an interspecies testing ground have finally found their fruition. In 1999, test sites from Emba and Sary-Shagan were relocated to the site.

The history of the missile range began in May 1946, when the decision was made to create a missile range. However, at that time Kapustin Yar appeared only on the list of possible locations. The choice of the location of the future training ground was entrusted to Major General Vasily Ivanovich VOZNYUK. Voznyuk began by going to Germany and finding his guardsmen there, choosing stronger, more reliable people for the future training ground. A reconnaissance group of specialists did a lot of work in a short time to select the location of the future landfill. All seven promising areas were examined, materials on meteorology, hydrology, communications, construction capabilities, and so on were collected and analyzed. The area of ​​the village of Kapustin Yar in the Astrakhan region was chosen and it was this area that the group recommended for the construction of a future missile test site. The decision to build a training ground in Kapustin Yar was made by the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Council of Ministers of the USSR on June 23, 1947. By the same decision, Major General Vasily Ivanovich VOZNYUK was entrusted with the construction of the training ground and he was appointed head of the future training ground.

The first officers arrived at the training ground on August 20, 1947. We pitched tents, set up a kitchen and a hospital. Military builders arrived along with Voznyuk's guards. The conditions were difficult, and what could the “conditions” be like in the bare steppe. On the third day, construction began on a concrete stand for fire testing of engines. In September 1947, a special-purpose brigade of Major General Alexander Fedorovich TVERETSKY arrived from Thuringia (Germany). Then two special trains with equipment formed in Germany. In a month and a half of work, by the beginning of October 1947, in addition to the concrete test stand, a launch pad with a bunker, a temporary technical position, an assembly building, and a bridge were built. They built a highway and a railway line connecting the training ground with the main highway to Stalingrad. They built a lot, but only for the rocket. The first housing for officers was built only in 1948, and before that, builders and testers lived in tents, temporary huts, and peasant huts. Great help was provided by special trains, which were equipped not only with laboratory equipment, but also with fairly comfortable carriages for specialists and management. By October 1, 1947, Voznyuk reported to Moscow that the site was completely ready for missile launches, and already on October 14, 1947, the first batch of A-1 (V-2) missiles arrived at the site. Even earlier, Sergei Pavlovich KOROLEV and other specialists arrived at the test site.

On October 18, 1947, the countdown for the functioning of the Kapustin Yar cosmodrome began. It was on this day at 10:47 a.m. Moscow time that the first ballistic missile was launched in the USSR. The rocket rose to a height of 86 kilometers and reached the surface of the Earth 274 kilometers from the launch. The first series of launches was carried out from October 18 to November 13, 1947. During this period, 11 A-1 missiles were launched. There were successes and failures, but this concerned missiles, not ground equipment.

For 10 years (from 1947 to 1957), Kapustin Yar was the only testing site for Soviet ballistic missiles. Tests of the R-1 missiles (September - October 1948, September - October 1949), R-2 (September - October 1949), R-5 (March 1953) and others were carried out at the test site. Even during the first series of launches in October - November 1947, Kapustin Yar began to be used as a launch site for geophysical rockets. The A-1 rocket, launched on November 2, 1947, was equipped with scientific instruments. From then on, this tradition was maintained until specialized geophysical rockets V-1 and V-2 were created. However, Kapustin Yar remained the launch site for geophysical rockets. Later, meteorological rockets were added to geophysical rockets. In June 1951, the first series of rocket launches with dogs on board took place.

In the early 50s, in addition to the active missile launch program, the formation and development of the test site's testing base was underway, and launch and technical complexes were being built. On February 20, 1956, a nuclear missile weapon was tested at the Kapustin Yar test site. The launched R-5 rocket delivered a nuclear warhead to the Astrakhan steppe, where a nuclear explosion occurred. The Kapustin Yar test site hosted launches of the intercontinental ballistic missile Burya in 1957 - 1959. On March 16, 1962, Kapustin Yar turned from a missile test site into a cosmodrome. On that day, the first launch of the Cosmos launch vehicle (11K63) with the DS-2 Cosmos-1 spacecraft was carried out from the launch pad of the State Central Test Site of the Moscow Region “Kapustin-Yar”, which opened the launches of satellites of this series. Small research satellites were launched from the Kapustin Yar cosmodrome, launched using low-power launch vehicles.

Since October 14, 1969, Kapustin Yar has operated as an international cosmodrome. On that day, the Intercosmos-1 satellite, created by specialists from socialist countries, was launched. The Indian satellites Aryabhata and Bhaskara and the French satellite Snow-3 took off from Kapustiny Yar. Kapustin Yar played a major role in training qualified personnel for testing rocket and space technology and management personnel for new cosmodromes. The Kapustin Yar cosmodrome took on the role of a cosmodrome for “small” rockets and “small” Earth satellites for research purposes. This specialization remained until 1988, when the need for launches of such satellites sharply decreased and space launches from the Kapustin Yar cosmodrome were discontinued. However, launch and technical positions for Cosmos-type launch vehicles are constantly maintained in working order and, if necessary, can be used at any time.

Below is a chronology of rocket and satellite launches from the Kapustin Yar cosmodrome. The chronology does not pretend to be complete, since data on the tests of Soviet ballistic missiles in the 40s and 50s was not published and the fragmentary information that you can find on these pages is taken from the memoirs of direct participants in these launches.

Launches from the Kapustin Yar cosmodrome

During the existence of the test site, 140 launches of space rockets were carried out from here (the last one launched in April 1999), including during their testing. Over 86 spacecraft of various classes have been launched into orbit. The successful flight of the reusable spacecraft “Buran” in 1988 was also largely based here - it was predetermined by the tests of its model “Bor”, which also launched from Kapustin Yar.

The Kapustin Yar test site will be involved in testing promising missile weapons. Major General Oleg Kislov, the head of the 4th State Center for Marine Transport, stated this in an interview with journalists on the eve of the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the first launch of the A-4 long-range ballistic missile.

- What is unique about the MCMP, what tasks does the Kapustin Yar training ground perform today? Could the test site become a cosmodrome in the future? It seems that in archival documents it once appeared as a cosmodrome, or was it an operational cover?

For seventy years, intensive work has been carried out at the test site to test promising and serial models of missile weapons and military equipment in the interests of all types and branches of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Figuratively speaking, our test site is not only the main testing base of the country, but also the “capital” of strategic tests. Today, the State Central Interspecific Test Site (SCIP) is a unique research and testing center that makes a significant contribution to the creation of new weapons and military equipment.

The uniqueness of the MCMP lies in the fact that all these years it has acted as a scientific testing site, which has combat fields, an experimental testing base, and specialists capable of providing comprehensive testing of weapons samples in the interests of various types and branches of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

Today, the test site solves a wide range of problems. Let's focus on the highest priority ones.

Firstly, the transfer to the troops of new serial models of air defense systems of new generations occurs only after initial combat firing at aerial targets has been carried out at our training ground. Firing is carried out by combat crews who will operate this instance of the system among the troops, with the direct supervision and participation of specialists from our range.

Secondly, the test site provides research on the creation and testing of weapons and military equipment based on new physical principles.

Third, testing of unified interspecific means of automation of command posts, the so-called “Universal Combat Command Posts,” is being carried out here. At the same time, unification is achieved through a unified software environment, through the synthesis of special software for solving specialized problems in managing the branches and branches of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

Fourthly, as part of the creation of a unified Aerospace Defense of the country, the test site is entrusted with the task of testing the means of the missile attack warning system and the country's air defense.

Fifthly, the test site is working to create a promising silo-based missile system using the Yasny-Kura route.

One of the most significant issues remains the development of promising combat equipment for the RK Strategic Missile Forces and the Navy using the unique Kapustin Yar-Balkhash route using special carriers;

It is also necessary to say something about testing promising elements of the aerospace defense system.

It is impossible not to mention the tests of the Iskander OTN missile launcher, as well as missiles and MLRS with improved tactical and technical characteristics.

You see, soon there won’t be enough fingers on our hands, and all this is far from a complete list of issues that the test site solves.

It must be emphasized that the tasks of the test site, set even at its creation, included testing missiles, rocket and jet technology intended for arming all types and branches of the Armed Forces. At that time, there were no other test sites, so it is not surprising that the first launches of animals into space and geodetic studies of outer space were carried out from the Kapustin Yar test site. However, there was no goal to build a cosmodrome in the Astrakhan steppes.

The main purpose of the test site, after all, was the creation of missile weapons. Previously, the test site actually carried out tasks typical of a cosmodrome, and yet the specificity of the test site is aimed at testing missile weapons and military equipment. In the future, the test site can also be used as a cosmodrome, but this will require financial costs to create the appropriate infrastructure and a certain amount of time.

- Can the Kapustin Yar test site, at least hypothetically, replace the Baikonur Cosmodrome?

This is not advisable, since currently the Russian Federation has 1 State Test Cosmodrome “Plesetsk”, and the Vostochny Cosmodrome is also intended for these purposes.

Currently, the Baikonur Cosmodrome is successfully fulfilling its tasks of providing launch services for launching payloads for various purposes into space.

- What significance did the test site have on the development of domestic rocket science and astronautics in general?

The first rocket test site "Kapustin Yar" is, so to speak, the cradle of rocketry and the birthplace of astronautics. The following space exploration programs were carried out at the test site:

— the first launch of a ballistic missile in the country, which became the starting point for the exploration of outer space in the world (October 18, 1947);

- the world's first launch of a Soviet satellite in the interests of international cooperation in space exploration (Interkosmos-1, 1969);

- the world's first launch of a foreign satellite (Indian "Ariabat" 1975). In total, the test site launched satellites for more than 10 countries;

— the country’s first launch of maneuvering satellites of the Cosmos series, which became the first aerospace vehicles (1979);

— launches of military and civil spacecraft using the Voskhod rocket and space complex.

- Are there plans to use KapYar’s infrastructure when testing modern manned systems?

- As already mentioned, such tasks are not currently assigned to the test site. The capabilities of existing and newly created cosmodromes fully meet the necessary needs for testing modern manned space systems.

- Will KapYar be involved in testing promising carriers and combat equipment? What tests need to be carried out in the northern space harbor, that is, at the Plesetsk cosmodrome, and which ones in Kapyar?

Undoubtedly, the Kapustin Yar test site will be involved in testing promising models of missile weapons, both during flight design tests and as part of state flight tests of promising models of combat equipment for strategic missiles. In order to confirm a whole set of tactical and technical requirements for promising missile weapons, it is necessary to conduct flight tests (LT) along various routes, including the Plesetsk launch area and the waters of the Barents and White Seas and the Kura fall area.

The test site tests new missile systems. In addition, using the Topol research missile system, advanced combat equipment for missile systems of the Strategic Missile Forces and the Navy is being tested. Tasks for testing promising missile weapons are distributed between the Plesetsk and Kapustin Yar test sites, primarily based on the characteristics and capabilities of the routes they use. As is known, the Plesetsk-Kura route allows testing at intercontinental ranges, subject to the use of the Pacific Ocean. Therefore, launch vehicles for missile systems are being tested in Plesetsk.

The KapYar-Balkhash route is unique in that it is an internal route that does not allow foreign states to use reconnaissance equipment on the final part of the trajectory, which makes it possible to ensure the secrecy of testing the characteristics of the new combat equipment being tested. Therefore, the MCMP mainly carries out tasks to test the combat equipment of missile systems.

- What happens at the test site every day and every year? Which of the events held recently were the most significant? What changes have occurred at the site recently?

At the test site there is ongoing, planned, painstaking and hard work related to the experimental testing of promising weapons and military equipment. There is no need to talk about the significance of this or that work. The test site faces unique challenges in testing missile weapons. Moreover, any result, even negative, is very important. After all, any experimental work makes it possible to bring design solutions embodied in prototypes to finished products that meet all the requirements of the Ministry of Defense and are capable of entering service with the Russian Army.

The test site conducts tests of new types of weapons and military equipment in accordance with the Test Work Plan approved by the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. In addition, tasks are being carried out to confirm the specified tactical and technical characteristics of weapons and military equipment in service, and demonstration firing is being carried out for foreign customers of our weapons. These are the main areas of work. The site's specialists conduct scientific research, as well as work to improve the methodology for testing modern weapons and military equipment. All this work continues at the site every day throughout the year.

Among the most significant events carried out recently, we can note the completion of interdepartmental tests of a new missile for, and the conduct of test firing as part of the re-equipment of anti-aircraft missile regiments on. The main change in the operating procedure of the test site can be noted in the increase in the volume of implementation of the test plan compared to previous years. In addition, intensive work is being carried out to modernize the experimental testing facilities of the test site, construct new and modernize existing structures. Modernization of the means of the polygon measuring complex.

- Why are most tests on the subject of the Strategic Missile Forces carried out in the dark?

The effectiveness of flight test tasks largely depends on favorable weather conditions during launches. These include, among other things, such environmental factors as the time of day, the state of the atmosphere along the flight path, the absence of clouds and areas of high humidity. All these conditions largely determine the efficiency of the on-board transceiver systems, as well as ground-based systems of the range measuring complex, which include optical measuring instruments, the effectiveness of which at a given time increases significantly.

Carrying out tests in the dark is necessary to obtain measurement information when using special markers on tested missile weapons in flight.

- What is the role of the test site in testing new weapons systems? In the interests of what types and types of weapons and military equipment are being tested at the test site today? How many weapons have been tested at the test site over 70 years?

Kapustin Yar is one of the main testing grounds for testing promising models of combat equipment for strategic missiles. Its unique experimental base makes it possible to solve a wide range of problems in testing various types of weapons and military equipment for various branches and types of troops. At the State Central Interservice Test Site of the Ministry of Defense, tests of military equipment are carried out in the interests of the Aerospace Forces, the Navy, the Ground Forces, and the Strategic Missile Forces:

— missile systems for strategic, operational-tactical, tactical purposes and their elements;
— means of combat equipment of missile systems (combat units and complexes of missile defense penetration systems);
— means of combat control and communications of strategic nuclear forces, automated control systems; means of protecting important military and government facilities from precision weapons;
- anti-aircraft missile systems, anti-aircraft missile systems, etc.

In total, since 1947, the GCMP has completed a colossal amount of testing work. Ballistic missiles R-1, R-5, R-12, R-13, R-14, the first silo launchers, and the legendary S-25 Berkut, S-75 Volkhov, S-125 Niva air defense systems were tested ", S-300, air defense systems "Tunguska", "Pantsir", target systems, the first mobile ground-based missile systems "Temp", "Pioneer", combat control and communication systems, automated control systems for all types of the Armed Forces, defense systems "Mozyr" ", "Blockade", military satellites and the first habitable space objects, aerospace aircraft and models of the Buran spacecraft, missile defense systems "A", "A-35", "A-135", missile defense systems "Aldan" " and "Argun", new systems for collecting and processing data, operational-tactical and tactical missile systems "Luna", "Oka", "Tochka", "Iskander", mobile command posts, satellites and geodetic missiles, air defense systems of the Ground Forces "Buk" , "Thor", the first long-range field rocket artillery systems and modern powerful multiple launch rocket systems "Smerch".

In total, more than 100 complexes and samples of weapons and military equipment were tested at the test site and put into service. It must be said that behind every topic, behind every tested or undergoing testing system are the names of General and Chief Designers, engineers and factory workers who made a significant contribution to the development of Russian missile weapons. More than 30 renowned enterprises and institutes work closely with the test site in testing and testing weapons and military equipment, as well as in carrying out scientific research in the interests of ensuring the country's defense capability.

- What are the specifics of missile defense tests? Do other countries have similar testing sites?

The MCMP includes the Sary-Shagan test site. It was created in accordance with the Government Decree of February 3, 1956 and is intended for development and testing of experimental and experimental samples of missile, space and anti-aircraft defense systems, combat equipment of missile systems of the Strategic Missile Forces and the Navy. From its creation to the present, the test site has unique capabilities for testing aerospace defense systems and complexes, testing combat equipment for missile systems of the Strategic Missile Forces and the Navy, as well as conducting military exercises of various scales.

Unique capabilities make it possible to simultaneously test both missile defense penetration systems and missile defense defense systems. In addition, create a dueling situation when testing warheads and their interception systems. These opportunities include the presence of a powerful experimental and testing base, which includes:

— a multi-channel missile defense system of the latest generation, on the basis of which it is planned to test key technologies of promising aerospace defense systems;

— special radar “Neman-P”;

— a polygon measuring complex, which includes a network of stationary measuring points equipped with a full range of measuring instruments, including unique optical-electronic systems;

— a system for collecting, processing and analyzing experimental data.

- Is the experimental testing facility being modernized at the test site? When will it be completed? Are there new optical-electronic stations coming? Is the testing equipment updated?

A large amount of construction work is currently being carried out at the test site as part of the modernization of the experimental and testing base of the MCMP. As part of the capital construction of facilities, construction work and reconstruction of buildings and structures are being carried out at the technical and launch positions, facilities of the control and testing base of the scientific and testing center for weapons and military equipment of the Strategic Missile Forces. This work will be completed in December 2017.

In addition, as part of the modernization of the PIK test site, it is planned to build stationary measuring points to ensure measurements in the meeting zone of anti-aircraft guided missiles and target missiles. Prepared concrete platforms will be built at the test site to accommodate mobile measuring systems in areas that periodically fall into the “danger zone.” Great importance is given to the construction of fiber-optic communication lines for the transmission of large volumes of information (with a capacity of at least 10 Gbit/s with the possibility of expansion), in connection with the equipment of modern highly informative measuring instruments.

Currently, the development of a multi-channel radar measuring system with a phased array antenna, combined with a high-precision optical tracking system, is also underway to improve the technical capabilities of the PIC when measuring the parameters of test objects. It is also necessary to carry out mass production of a new optical-electronic station for trajectory measurements (OES TIK) and deliver 10 such kits to the test site by 2025 to replace the worn-out FRS-2 ​​stations. In addition, it is planned to equip the PIK with the latest stationary optical-electronic systems by 2025.

- Are subordinate structural units being re-equipped, for example, the Sary-Shagan training ground?

Yes, it is carried out. Currently, the multi-channel firing complex is being modernized, and the communication and data transmission system is being modernized.

- What is the reason for the increase in the intensity of testing at the test site in recent years? What topics are emphasized? How many tests are planned to be carried out in 2017? What significant events await the test site in the anniversary year?

This is due to an increase in the State Defense Order for the development of the latest weapons and military equipment. There is not much emphasis on specific topics. Development and testing are carried out in areas of all types and branches of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In accordance with the Test Plan for weapons and military equipment of the State Center for Military Equipment of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, this year tests are being carried out on 160 topics in the interests of all types and branches of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

- In what cases is the Kapustin Yar test track - Kura battlefield used, will it be used in the future? Does the site need new test tracks?

No such route exists. You probably meant the Yasny-Kura route. The existing routes ensure the fulfillment of all the tasks assigned to the test site for testing promising weapons and military equipment.

- Why is the Topol missile system used to test promising combat equipment?

The Topol research missile system is located at the training ground for combat equipment. The development of this complex was completed in 2009, after which this complex became the main one for testing combat equipment. The use of this complex became expedient after the RK missiles that had expired their warranty periods were removed from combat duty, but their condition allows them to be used as an inexpensive carrier. In addition, missiles of this class have a high degree of reliability and high performance characteristics.

The capabilities of the ICBMs of this complex to perform LI tasks as a special carrier have already been confirmed by dozens of successful tests at the Kapustin Yar test site. This special carrier is most suitable for testing promising elements of the combat equipment of the RSN, currently being developed and tested.

- Is there interaction with the State Flight Test Center named after. V.P. Chkalova?

The polygon interacts very closely with 929 GLITS. This consists not only in the joint use of our battlefields, but also in carrying out joint work to develop promising models of weapons and military equipment. The test site helps to test the GLITs using elements of air defense systems and systems of the aircraft being tested, and the GLITs, using aviation assets, helps to test new means of anti-aircraft missile and radar aviation control systems. In addition, the experimental and testing base of our test sites is also used jointly on various topics.

> > Kapustin Yar Cosmodrome

– Russian missile test site: where it is located on the map of the Astrakhan region, history of creation with photos, missile launches, descriptions of missions.

Kapustin Yar- this is the most secret Soviet missile cosmodrome, located in the Astrakhan region in its north-west. Its full official name is: 4th State Central Interspecific Test Site of the Russian Federation (4 GCMP). You can find out exactly where the Kapustin Yar cosmodrome is located on a map of Russia, and the type of buildings is shown in the photo.

The Astrakhan Kapustin Yar test site opened for work on May 13, 1946 to test the first Soviet ballistic missiles. The total area of ​​the landfill is 650 km² (area up to 0.40 million hectares). It is located in Russia, but also occupies some part of Kazakhstan, within the Atyrau and West Kazakhstan regions.

On June 3, 1947, by a resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party), Major General V.I. was appointed head of the training ground. Voznyuk. The Kapustny Yar training ground has been designated as the location.

The first officers began arriving at the training ground on the twentieth of August 1947.

The launch of the Burya intercontinental missile took place at the test site in 1957-1959.

In the 1960s, the Ground Forces Missile Forces Training Center was established on the territory of the Kapustny Yar training ground. Tasks, the purpose of which is the retraining and training of missile specialists, the formation of combat coherence of the created missile units and the creation of regulatory documents for the comprehensive combat activities of missile units of the Ground Forces.

On March 16, 1963, the test site became a cosmodrome: the Cosmos-1 satellite was launched. Small research satellites were also launched at the Kapustin Yar test site. They were launched using a light-class launch vehicle of the Cosmos series. A huge number of different short- and medium-range missiles, cruise missiles, and air defense missile systems were also tested at the test site.

The history of the test site goes back to the post-war 1946, when the first lords of future missile systems appeared on this sun-scorched Astrakhan soil. With a complex and responsible task: to create the material and technical base for testing domestic ballistic missiles in the shortest possible time.

Kapustin Yar - 4th State Central Interdepartmental Test Site of the Russian Federation. Located near the village of Kapustin Yar in the Astrakhan region, in the lower reaches of the Volga at a point with coordinates 48.4 north latitude and 45.5 east longitude. Created in 1947. Designed for launches of combat ballistic missiles, geophysical and meteorological missiles, as well as light space objects. Space objects placed into low-Earth orbit have an orbital inclination to the equatorial plane ranging from 480 to 510. Since 1988, it has practically not been used. Currently, an interspecies testing ground has been created on its basis.

It is necessary to begin the story about the history of the test site from the distant 1945, when the victory over Germany made available to Soviet specialists the remains of the outstanding rocket technologies of the team of Wernher Von Braun, who himself, together with the most significant part of the team of developers and scientists, totaling about 400 people, ended up in hands of the American military and continued his work in the USA. All the most valuable things from factories, testing and research centers, including several dozen assembled V-2 missiles, almost all special test equipment and documentation had already been taken to the USA when the first Soviet intelligence officers and specialists appeared on the ruins of the rocket cradle. Collecting the remains of the German team and documentation, shaking out the trash cans of research centers, specialists still managed to collect enough material to reproduce the design of the V-1 and V-2 missiles. In the USSR, a number of research institutes and design bureaus were urgently formed, which were closely involved in solving this problem. There is an urgent need to create a specialized testing site for research and testing. In May 1946, a month after the Americans made the first launch of the A-4 exported from Germany at their White Sands training ground in New Mexico, it was decided to create such a training ground in the USSR and Major General Vasily Ivanovich Voznyuk, who was Instructed to lead the search for a place suitable for the construction of a landfill, work began. The location for its placement was selected from seven options, which were carefully examined in the shortest possible time, materials on meteorology, hydrology, communications, construction capabilities, etc. were collected and analyzed. As a result, the most suitable areas were considered to be areas near Volgograd, near the village of Kapustin Yar in the Astrakhan region (which later gave the name to the new test site) and the village of Naurskaya in the Grozny region. Moreover, until June 1947, as archival documents testify, preference was given to the village of Naurskaya. One of the memos from Marshal of Artillery Nikolai Yakovlev said: “The construction of the state-controlled center in the area of ​​the village of Naurskaya makes it possible to lay out a test route of up to 3000 kilometers and ensure testing not only long-range missiles, but also all types of land-based anti-aircraft and sea missiles. This option will require the least material costs for the resettlement of the local population and the transfer of enterprises to other areas." Only the Minister of Livestock Husbandry, Kozlov, spoke out against the construction of a landfill in Naurskaya, motivating his protest by the need to alienate a significant part of pasture land. On June 3, 1947, by resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks No. 2642-817, Kapustin Yar was designated as the location of the training ground, which largely predetermined its future fate. By the same decision, Major General Vasily Ivanovich Voznyuk was entrusted with the construction of the training ground and he was appointed its future chief.

The first officers arrived at the training ground on August 20, 1947. We pitched tents, set up a kitchen and a hospital. Military builders arrived along with Voznyuk's guards. The conditions were difficult, if we can even talk about any conditions in the bare steppe. Already on the third day, on the slope of the Smyslin beam, 10 kilometers from the village, construction began on a concrete stand for fire testing of A-4 engines, which was built according to German drawings and equipped with equipment exported from Germany and a bunker for monitoring the progress of tests. This place was later named Site 1. In September 1947, a special-purpose brigade of Major General Alexander Fedorovich Tveretsky arrived from Thuringia (Germany). Then two special trains with equipment formed in Germany. In a month and a half of work, by the beginning of October 1947, in addition to the concrete test stand and bunker at the 1st site, a launch pad with a bunker, a temporary technical position, and an assembly building were built. They built a highway and a 20-kilometer railway line with a bridge across a deep ravine, connecting the training ground with the main highway to Stalingrad (Volgograd).

They built a lot and only for the A-4 rocket, which was first on the list of priorities. The construction of housing for personnel at the test site did not take place until 1948, so builders and future testers lived in the bare steppe, in tents, dugouts, temporary buildings, or were housed in peasant huts. The authorities and specialists who arrived at the test site lived in the Messina special train, which, in addition to laboratory equipment, had quite comfortable carriages, as well as a dining car in which they ate. By October 1, 1947, Voznyuk reported to Moscow that the site was completely ready for missile launches, and already on October 14, 1947, the first batch of V-2 (A-4) missiles, assembled partly in Germany and partly in Podlipki, arrived at the range.

On October 18, 1947, at 10:47 a.m. Moscow time, the first ballistic missile was launched in the USSR. The rocket rose to a height of 86 kilometers and, having collapsed upon entering the dense layers of the atmosphere, reached the Earth's surface 274 kilometers from the launch with a deviation of about 30 km from the target**. The first series of launches was carried out from October 18 to November 13, 1947. During this period, 11 V-2 missiles (according to other sources, 10) were launched, 9 of which reached the target (albeit with a large deviation from the given trajectory) and 2 crashed.

For 10 years (from 1947 to 1957), Kapustin Yar became the only testing site for Soviet ballistic missiles. The missiles R-1 (September - October 1948, September - October 1949), R-2 (September - October 1949), R-5 (March 1953), R-12, R-14 were tested at the test site. , the last missile of the Cold War, the infamous SS-20 RSD-10, the world famous "Scud" and a huge variety of other short and medium range missiles, cruise missiles, complexes and air defense missiles.

Even during the first series of launches in October - November 1947, Kapustin Yar began to be used as a launch site for geophysical rockets. The V-2 rocket launched on November 2, 1947 was equipped with scientific instruments. From then on, this tradition was maintained until specialized geophysical rockets V-1 and V-2 were created. However, Kapustin Yar remained the launch site for geophysical rockets. Later, meteorological rockets were added to geophysical rockets. In June 1951, the first series of rocket launches with dogs on board took place.

In the early 50s, in addition to the active missile launch program, the formation and development of the test site's testing base was underway, and launch and technical complexes were being built. On February 20, 1956, a nuclear missile weapon was tested at the Kapustin Yar test site. The launched R-5M rocket delivered a nuclear warhead to the Aral steppe, where a nuclear explosion occurred. The Kapustin Yar test site hosted launches of the intercontinental ballistic missile Burya in 1957 - 1959. On March 16, 1962, Kapustin Yar turned from a missile test site into a cosmodrome. On that day, the Cosmos-1 satellite was launched. Small research satellites were launched from the Kapustin Yar cosmodrome, launched using low-power launch vehicles of the Cosmos series.

On October 14, 1969, the Intercosmos-1 satellite, created by specialists from socialist countries, was launched from the Kapustin Yar test site. The Indian satellites Aryabhata and Bhaskara and the French satellite Snow-3 also took off from the now international cosmodrome. Kapustin Yar played a major role in training qualified personnel for testing rocket and space technology and management personnel for new cosmodromes. The Kapustin Yar cosmodrome took on the role of a cosmodrome for “small” rockets and “small” Earth satellites for research purposes. This specialization remained until 1988, when the need for launches of such satellites sharply decreased and space launches from the Kapustin Yar cosmodrome were discontinued. In addition, the SRD missile reduction agreement signed in 1987 led to an almost complete cessation of testing work at the test site. The launch and technical positions were mothballed for about 10 years, but were constantly maintained in working order and, if necessary, could be used at any time. The last known test launch was carried out on June 22, 1988. This was the sixth and final flight of the BOR-5 project.

In 1998, the long-awaited revival of the test site and cosmodrome came. After many years of inactivity, the Cosmos 11K65M launch vehicle was commercially launched from the cosmodrome, carrying a French satellite as an additional load, and on April 28, 1999, the ABRIXAS and Megsat-0 satellites were launched. In addition, testing work has resumed at the site. Ideas about creating an interspecies testing ground have finally found their fruition. In 1999, test sites from Emba and Sary-Shagan were relocated to the site.

Jan Sereda

Test site Kapustin Yar

Kapustin Yar,.. Cap. Yar, as it is commonly called in everyday life, and now Znamensk, a city not indicated even on maps, mysterious to those around, inconspicuous in appearance... But at the same time, a city-worker and a city-soldier, the cradle of practical domestic cosmonautics, a small piece of the immense Russia, who made an invaluable contribution to its power, strength and independence.

On May 13, 1946, by Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, the State Central Test Site of the Ministry of Defense "Kapustin Yar" was created for scientific research and testing of rocket technology.

The history of the test site goes back to the post-war 1946, when the first lords of future missile systems appeared on this sun-scorched Astrakhan soil. With a complex and responsible task: to create the material and technical base for testing domestic ballistic missiles in the shortest possible time.

Thanks to the dedicated work of scientists, designers, workers, and military specialists, the first domestic ballistic missile is being created in a short time. At the same time, the city is being built, technical and launch positions are being supplied with equipment, and the first missile units are being formed and trained.

On October 18, 1947, the A-4 ballistic missile was launched for the first time at the Kapustin Yar test site. This day went down in history as an unforgettable milestone in the development of Soviet scientific and technical thought and became the starting point for domestic rocket science.

Successful tests of the first sample made it possible to continue work on the creation of the country's missile shield, which resulted in the creation in the early 50s of the first generation of missile systems (R-1, R-2).

All further work of the test site in this area consisted of both improving the systems already in service and developing new ones. During the demonstration of all available types of missiles to state leaders in September 1958, with group and single launches, the advantage of the centralized use of these systems was shown. As a result, in December 1959, a historic decision was made to create the Strategic Missile Forces. In the early 60s, new models of rocket technology were tested at the test site, including one of the most powerful medium-range missiles, the R-14, and a silo version of the R-12 missile. Solid fuel missiles were also tested at the test site, including the famous RSD-10 (SS-20 according to the Western classification), the elimination of which, under the INF Treaty, also took place here, in Kapustin Yar.

Effective use of the latest rocket technology is impossible to imagine without the presence of well-trained rocket specialists. By the directive of the Civil Code of the Army of May 20, 1960, the Training Center of the Missile Forces of the Ground Forces was established on the territory of the State Test Site, the tasks of which included the formation of combat coherence of the missile units being created, the training and retraining of missile specialists, the creation of regulatory documents for the comprehensive combat activities of the missile units of the Ground Forces .

Not only strategic missiles began their journey here at the test site, but also operational-tactical systems, as well as missile systems for the Air Defense Forces, including the famous S-300PMU complex. At the present time, tests of the newest complex, the S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile system, are being completed at the test site. The fundamental feature of the S-400 is its ability to effectively destroy all existing and future air attack weapons in the world. The priority targets for such air defense systems will be previously inaccessible AWACS aircraft - jammers that ensure the implementation of air offensive operations. The estimated efficiency of the S-400 is 2-2.5 times higher than that of the previous generation S-300 system. It is expected that the S-400 missiles will become the main long-range weapon of Russian Air Force combat aircraft.

Testing missile systems would not make sense without the ability to obtain and process measurement information. The test site's command and measurement complex (CMS) allows the effectiveness of these tests to be ensured.

Years passed, generations changed, technology improved. Here, on Astrakhan soil, the word “rocketman” acquired its true meaning - the profession of courageous and courageous, inquisitive and inquisitive, persistent and hardworking people.

Many samples of rocket and space technology received a start in life at the Kapustin Yar test site.

Today the test site is the largest research and testing center in Europe. It has highly qualified scientific and testing personnel and is equipped with modern equipment and technology.

Viktor Antonovich