Kapustin Yar
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (July 2008) |
Kapustin Yar | |
---|---|
Капустин Яр | |
Russian Federation | |
Coordinates | 48°35′N 45°43′E / 48.59°N 45.72°E |
Site information | |
Owner | Russian Federation |
Controlled by | Russian Aerospace Forces |
Open to the public | No |
Site history | |
Built | 1946 |
Built by | Soviet Union |
Kapustin Yar (Russian: Капустин Яр) is a Russian rocket launch complex in Astrakhan Oblast, about 100 km east of Volgograd. It was established by the Soviet Union on 13 May 1946. In the beginning, Kapustin Yar used technology, material, and scientific support gained from the defeat of Germany in World War II. Numerous launches of test rockets for the Russian military were carried out at the site, as well as satellite and sounding rocket launches. The towns of Znamensk and Kapustin Yar (air base) were built nearby to serve the missile test range.
Name
The nearby village, Kapustin Yar, was used as the operations base in the early days of the testing site. The actual name can be translated as "cabbage ravine".
In public opinion, Kapustin Yar is often referred to as the "Russian
History
Overview
The 4th Missile Test Range "Kapustin Yar" was established by a decree of the Soviet government in "On Questions of Jet Propelled Weapons" on 13 May 1946. The test range was created in the desert north end of the Astrakhan region under the supervision of lieutenant general Vasily Ivanovich Voznyuk, who served as commander of the range from 1946 until 1973.[4] The first rocket was launched from the site on 18 October 1947; it was one of eleven German A-4s that had been captured.
As of 1959, Kapustin Yar was the only publicly known Soviet missile test range. Non-Soviet observers believed at first that Sputnik 1 and Sputnik 2 launched from the site.[5] With the further growth and development, Kapustin Yar became a cosmodrome, serving this function since 1966. The rate of space launches was very low, usually 1–2 a year, and during the Soviet era it hosted only the two smallest launch vehicles: the R-12 and R-14 derived Kosmos boosters. There were no space launches from 1988 to 1998. The town of Znamensk was established to support the scientists working on the facilities, their families, and supporting personnel. Initially, this was a secret city, not shown on maps and requiring official permission to visit.
Creation
On 3 June 1947, by the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) No. 2642–817[
By the beginning of October 1947, in addition to the concrete test stand and
By 1 October 1947, Voznyuk reported the site was ready for launching rockets. On 14 October 1947, the first batch of V-2 rockets arrived at the test site. On 18 October 1947 at 10:47 Moscow time, the first launch of ballistic missile in the USSR was made. From 18 October to 13 November 1947, eleven V-2 rockets were launched; seven achieved the targeted range (two with a large deviation from the set trajectory) and four failed.[7]
From 1947 to 1957, Kapustin Yar was the only place to test Soviet ballistic missiles, including the
In June 1951, the State R&D Test Range No 8 (GNIIP-8, "test range S") was established at Kapustin Yar.
Photo-reconnaissance flights
Western intelligence services learned about the existence of the test site from German scientists returning to their homeland. The success of the operation gave impetus to the development of satellite and aerial photography programs of military facilities in the USSR and other socialist countries.
Nuclear tests and satellite launches
According to open data, since the 1950s, at least 11
On 20 May 1960, the Training Center of the Rocket Forces of the Ground Forces was established on the territory of the State Landfill. The Center was tasked with creating combat coherence of missile troops, training and retraining rocket specialists, and creating regulatory documents for all-round missile combat activities troops of the Ground Forces.
On 16 March 1962, Kapustin Yar became a
In subsequent years, many short- and medium-range missiles, cruise missiles, complexes, and air defense missiles were tested at the test site.
Recent years
On 8 January 1992, during a trip to
In 1994, the 4 GPC
In 1999, Russian troops were redeployed to the Kapustin Yar test site from the 11th State Research Test Site of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Emba (ru), due to the dismantling of the latter.[14]
In 2008, Russia carried out 27 launches, surpassing its figure for 2007 and setting the highest number worldwide. Most (19 / 27) launches were performed from the
Missile tests and launches
- October 1947 – V-2 rocket
- 18 October 1947 – Articul T (exact copy of V-2)
- 10 October 1948 – R-1 (missile)
- January 1952 – S-25 Berkut
- 3 January 1955 – R-11FM
- 20 January 1955 – R-5 Pobeda
- 2 February 1956 – R-5Mwith standard nuclear warhead
- 22 June 1957 – R-12
- March 1959 – R-13
- 6 July 1960 – R-14 Chusovaya
- 11 February 1962 – R-14U
- 16 March 1962 – 11K63 Cosmos
- 21 September 1974 – RT-21M RSD-10 Pioneer
- 12 February 1999 – S-400
- 3 March 2011 – S-500
- 4 March 2014 – RT-2PM Topol
- 20 May 2014 – RT-2PM Topol
- 28 November 2019 – RT-2PM Topol
- 12 April 2024 (unspecified)[16]
Launch pads
Name | Coordinates | Comment | |
---|---|---|---|
Burya Launch Complex | Kapustin Yar Burya | 48°28′N 46°19′E / 48.47°N 46.32°E | Elaborate complex: horizontal assembly building, huge circular rail line, and mobile erector and launcher; built at the Soviet Vladimirovka flight test facility, south of Kapustin Yar |
Area 84 | Kapustin Yar LC84 | 48°37′N 46°18′E / 48.62°N 46.30°E | 3 launch pads: R-5, RT-15, R-5 |
Area 86 | Kapustin Yar LC86 | 48°36′N 46°18′E / 48.60°N 46.30°E | 4 launch pads: Kosmos 11K63, Kosmos 63S1, Kosmos 63S1M, R-31 |
Area 107 | Kapustin Yar LC107 | 48°32′N 46°18′E / 48.54°N 46.30°E | 3 launch pads: Kosmos 11K65M, Kosmos 65MP, R-14 |
Area 107 | Kapustin Yar LC107 | 48°32′N 46°18′E / 48.54°N 46.30°E | 1 launch garage: mobile ICBM Topol/Topol-E |
Mayak-1 silo | Kapustin Yar Mayak-1 | 48°36′N 46°18′E / 48.60°N 46.30°E | 1 launch pad: R-12 |
Mayak-2 silo | Kapustin Yar Mayak-2 | 48°34′N 46°18′E / 48.57°N 46.30°E | 2 launch pads: Kosmos 63S1, R-12 |
Pioner Launch Complex | Kapustin Yar Pioner | 48°37′N 46°15′E / 48.62°N 46.25°E | Rail-served launch complex |
Area 1 | Kapustin Yar PL1 | 48°24′N 46°12′E / 48.40°N 46.20°E | 1 launch pad: R-12 |
Area 87 | Kapustin Yar PL87 | 48°34′N 46°18′E / 48.56°N 46.30°E | 1 launch pad: RT-2 |
R-1 Launch Area | Kapustin Yar R-1 | 48°48′N 45°40′E / 48.80°N 45.67°E | |
R-11 Launch Area | Kapustin Yar R-11 | 48°42′N 46°12′E / 48.70°N 46.20°E | Naval missile test area |
R-14 Silo Prototype | Kapustin Yar R-14 | 48°32′N 46°18′E / 48.53°N 46.30°E | |
R-2 Launch Area | Kapustin Yar R-2 | 48°47′N 45°42′E / 48.78°N 45.70°E | |
R-5 Initial Launch Area | Kapustin Yar R-5 | 48°45′N 45°45′E / 48.75°N 45.75°E | |
SM-49 submarine simulator | Kapustin Yar SM-49 | 48°40′N 46°16′E / 48.67°N 46.27°E | 1 launch pad: R-11FM |
Sounding rocket launch area | Kapustin Yar Sounding | 48°42′N 46°12′E / 48.70°N 46.20°E | Site used to launch sounding rockets |
V-2 Launch Area | Kapustin Yar V-2 | 48°33′N 45°49′E / 48.55°N 45.82°E | Original site for V-2 launches in 1946; first complex at Kapustin Yar |
Vertikal Launch Pad | Kapustin Yar Vertikal | 48°30′N 46°47′E / 48.50°N 46.78°E | 1 launch pad;
Site for R-5 scientific launches, located east of the primary military launch areas |
In popular culture
Kapustin Yar is mentioned in the story "Cradle in Orbit" by Arthur C. Clarke.
Kapustin Yar is mentioned in Alexander Gromov's novel Step to the Left, step to the Right. (M., AST, 1999.)
One of the key missions of the 2003 computer game UFO: Aftermath is the task of finding documents in an underground base located at the Kapustin Yar test site.
See also
- Baikonur Cosmodrome
- Vostochny Cosmodrome
- Plesetsk Cosmodrome
- Svobodny Cosmodrome
- Area 51
- White Sands Missile Range
Explanatory notes
- ^ The UK Government has never recognized that the flight happened, but several indirect pieces of evidence hint at it, published in the 1990s after the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
- ^ The picture quality was not very high due to the vibration associated with the attacks of the Soviet interceptors.
References
- ^ "Russian Roswell". UFO Phenomenon. August 1, 2009. Archived from the original on December 4, 2017. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
- History Channel.
- ^ polygon, see d / f "Russian Roswell" from the series 'UFO Files' (2005) of the History Channel
- ^ Pruss, Oleg (2012). "Voznyuk Vasily Ivanovich - the founder of the first missile test range of Kapustin Yar". kpi.ua. Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. Retrieved 2022-12-11.
- ^ Ley, Willy (October 1959). "For Your Information". Galaxy. p. 73. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
- ^ "Становление на родной земле". militera.lib.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 3 January 2019.
- ^ Zak, Anatoly. "Tests of the A-4 rocket in Kapustin Yar". RussianSpaceWeb.com. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
- ^ "Zavod 88 on Gorodomlya Island; Firing Range for A-4" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency. 1953-02-06. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 22, 2017. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
- ISBN 0-7509-1970-1pp. 76–83.
- ^ Pedlow, Gregory W and Welzenbach, Donald E: "The CIA and the U-2 Program, 1954–1974" History Staff Centre for the Study of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency p23.
- ^ "ЯДЕРНЫЕ ИСПЫТАНИЯ В СССР, ТОМ I, глава 3" [Nuclear tests in USSR, Volume I, Chapter 3] (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2006-11-08.
- ^ "Ядерные взрывы на полигоне Капустин Яр". www.kap-yar.ru. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
- ^ "Г.Приозерск -". Archived from the original on 2009-02-21. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
- ^ "Информационное агентство «Znamensk.Info» - История полигона". Archived from the original on 2009-09-21. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
- ^ "ЦЭНКИ – Центр эксплуатации объектов наземной космической инфраструктуры". www.russian.space (in Russian). Retrieved 3 January 2019.
- ^ "Russia says it conducts successful intercontinental ballistic missile test launch". Reuters. 12 April 2024. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
Further reading
- Naimark, Norman (1995). The Russians in Germany. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-78405-5.
- ISBN 3-933395-67-4.