Eerie photos have surfaced of Russia’s abandoned cosmodrome, showing USSR-era spacecraft left to rust in the harsh Kazakhstan desert.
The images come after a 25-year-old man died trying to walk to the very same Baikonur Cosmodrome spaceport in the middle of the sweltering desert earlier this week on June 11.
A second man, 27, who was accompanying the deceased on the journey, is now reportedly in custody, according to Russia’s RIA news service.
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(Image: NASA via Getty Images)
Officials later revealed that the two French lads were trekking past the cosmodrome when one of them fell ill. Tragically, the man passed away while his mate dashed to a security checkpoint in Baikonur for assistance.
An investigation into the incident has since been initiated by Russian authorities.
Despite being nestled deep within Kazakhstan’s desert Steppe, the cosmodrome is leased by Russia and is heavily guarded by security squads from Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs. The area can only be accessed by visitors through a pre-booked tour which provides them with the opportunity to witness a spacecraft launch.
(Image: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Baikonur Cosmodrome – the world’s first and largest space launch facility – is now partially abandoned. This historic site was where both Sputnik 1 and Vostok 1 were launched from.
Sputnik was the first man-made Earth satellite, while Vostok marked the first manned spaceflight, piloted by Russian Yuri Gagarin in 1961.
Now, two shuttles from the Buran Space Program are left to gather dust at the facility – a test shuttle and another that was never used after the space program ended in 1993.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
The giant Cold War-era facility is found deep within Kazakhstan’s desert, over 20 miles away from the nearest village, after which the spaceport is named..
However, it’s still frequently targeted by daring intruders keen to explore the Soviet-era spacecraft stored within. In 2018, Russian explorer Konstantin Kosmodemiansky spilled the beans on how he and a small crew sneaked into the desert without lights or GPS in an attempt to evade the guards.
The team then infiltrated a facility housing vintage Soviet and Russian space tech.
(Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
A couple of years back, British YouTuber Benjamin Rich and a Belarusian lass were nabbed after they slipped into the Buran hangar, home to two prototype shuttles from the failed 1980s Buran shuttle programme.
Rich, who ran a channel called ‘Bald and Bankrupt’, was collared at the Baikonur cosmodrome in May 2022.
The video maker, who has a whopping 4 million subscribers on Youtube, was detained for a few hours and made to cough up a fine before being let go.
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