Plesetsk Cosmodrome

Plesetsk Cosmodrome is a Russian spaceport, located about 800 km north of Moscow and south of Arkhangelsk (coordinates vary in different sources, but 62.8°N, 40.1°E seems plausible). It was originally developed by the Soviet Union as a launch site for intercontinental ballistic missiles. Construction started in 1957 and it was declared operational for R-7 rockets in December 1959. The village of Plesetsk in Arkhangelsk Oblast[?] had a railway station, essential for the transport of missile components. A new town for the support of the facility was named Mirny[?], Russian for "peaceful". By 1997, more than 1,500 launches to space had been made from the site, more than for any other launch facility, although the usage has declined significantly since the breakup of the Soviet Union.

External references

• RussianSpaceWeb.com on Plesetsk (http://www.russianspaceweb.com/plesetsk)