Kapustin Yar (often abbreviated as Cap-Yar) is a missile military training ground in the Astrakhan region.
The test site was established in 1946 to test the first Soviet ballistic missiles. Nuclear tests were carried out here (at least 11 nuclear explosions), 24 thousand guided missiles were blown up, 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 a missile test site, where all types of missile weapons have been and are being tested - aviation, air defense from S-25 to S-400, ballistic mobile and mine-based. Belka and Strelka were launched into space from here. There is a cosmodrome, a military airfield, and the abandoned and ruined city of Zhitkur that is still operating today.

The place is well-known, it is mentioned a lot in the literature, the space search claims that under Zhitkur there is an underground storage of captured UFOs :) So, what is really at the training ground?

The landfill covers an area of ​​about 70 by 100 km and is partially abandoned. Throughout the territory of the test site, at a distance of several kilometers from each other, military units and test sites are scattered, which are called "points". Some of the points are active, 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 livestock shelter by local residents, especially closer to the borders of the landfill. There is a training center, a railway range, target sites, an active and abandoned spaceports. All the steppes are lavishly strewn with missile nose fairings, burnt-out sustainer engines, ejection seats and similar rubbish.

...

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

Catapult chair.

Aerodrome.

Some shop. Masts - lightning rods?

Fairings? Products?

The current semaphore.

Railway cars after some tests. Near the railway line and a steep hill.

Cattle in front of the air defense division.

Achtung minen.

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

Specialists 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 will not 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 spaceport.

-And nothing will take off?
-A xs :)

...

And this is what it looks like from the car :)

A lot of buildings, shelters, platforms, scattered in the trash.

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

Suspensions of goals, perhaps.

Observation pavilion.

A well with a drinker.

Details of rockets in the national economy. It was very reminiscent of Vietnam and the countries of Asia, where the hulls and fragments of bombs were used as best they could.

And camels at sunset here are the same as anywhere else in the world.

Many things on the way could not be filmed, the old spaceport was not found. But this is very interesting.
Is it possible to drive through the landfill in a similar route? With good karma, luck and favorable circumstances, perhaps it is possible. But I do not advise you, and I was asked to convey that you should not do this :)

Polygon Kapustin Yar ( or abbreviated Kapyar) is part of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation as the 4th State Central Interspecific Range (4th GTsMP), being one of the oldest and most famous Russian missile ranges. It was from the Kapustin Yar training ground that the history of the creation of the Soviet strategic missile shield began. It is rightly called "the cradle of the Strategic Missile Forces."

Kapustin Yar is not only a missile range, but also the largest testing and research center, as well as a cosmodrome. Despite the fact that initially this object was created for purely military purposes, it is difficult to overestimate its importance for civil cosmonautics - both Soviet and modern Russian.

In this article, we will touch upon the history of the creation of the Kapustin Yar test site and the most significant events associated with it, as well as consider the current state of the test site: its purpose, characteristics, deployed units and subdivisions.

HISTORY OF THE POLYGON KAPUSTIN YAR

The creation of the nuclear missile shield of the USSR began immediately after the end of the Great Patriotic War. The victory over Nazi Germany gave Soviet specialists access to part of the rocket technology of German scientists led by Wernher von Braun, who, together with a group of developers and designers, ended up in the zone of occupation by the American military and agreed to continue their work in the United States.

When advanced Soviet units appeared on the ruins of the Third Reich missile center near the town of Peenemünde, all the most valuable equipment, including several dozen ready-made V-2 rockets, had already been captured by the Americans and taken to the United States. Nevertheless, the remnants of the technical documentation provided Soviet specialists with enough information to reproduce the design of the V-1 and V-2 rockets. In the USSR, several research institutes and design bureaus were urgently formed, which came to grips with solving this problem.

The USSR had just ended the war, having experienced terrible destruction. It was impossible to allow the loss of military parity with the West. Any lag behind the United States in the field of nuclear weapons and their means of delivery threatened to lose the state's defense capability. For research and testing of missile weapons, it was necessary to create a specialized training ground.

The history of the missile range, and then the Kapustin Yar cosmodrome, began in May 1946, when a resolution was adopted by the Council of Ministers of the USSR on the creation of a whole network of design bureaus and institutions focused on the accelerated creation of strategic missile weapons. And for its testing, it was decided to create a specialized training ground.

A group of specialists examined seven promising areas and, in the end, a flat place near the village of Kapustin Yar, Astrakhan Region, was chosen for the deployment of an important strategic facility.

The decision to build a test site in Kapustin Yar was made by a joint resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Council of Ministers of the USSR on June 3, 1947. Given the importance of this facility, the management of the construction of the landfill was entrusted to the State Commission, the chairman of which was appointed People's Commissar and Minister of Armaments of the USSR Ustinov Dmitry Fedorovich; The commission included Chief of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces Marshal of the Soviet Union A.M. Vasilevsky, Chief Marshals of Artillery N.N. Voronov, M.I. Nedelin, Marshal of Artillery N.D. Yakovlev and others. The construction was headed by Marshal of Engineering Troops M.P. Vorobyov.

The first head of the Soviet missile range was appointed Guard Lieutenant General (later - Guard Colonel General) artillery V.I. Vozniuk. The personality of this man, who is rightly called the "founding father" of the landfill, should be discussed in more detail.

Vasily Ivanovich Voznyuk was born on December 20, 1906 (January 1, 1907 according to the new style) in a family of actors of the Kharkov Drama Theater. In his youth, he managed to work as a prompter, stagehand, sailor, but since 1925 he has connected his life with the armed forces, having entered the 1st Leningrad Artillery School named after Red October. From 1929 to 1937, he successively went through the steps of a service career in the 30th artillery regiment: from a platoon commander to the regiment's chief of staff and the acting regiment commander. In 1938-1939. teaches at the Penza Artillery School, at the same time acting as the division commander of this school.

From the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he was at the front: first as chief of staff of the 7th anti-tank brigade, then as chief of the operational department of the artillery headquarters of the 13th army. One must think that during the time of service in these positions, V.I. Voznyuk earned the exclusive trust of the command, so all his further service during the Second World War was connected with the BM-13 Guards mortar units, the famous Katyushas, ​​which at that time were one of the newest and most formidable types of weapons of the Red Army. He served as chief of staff of the guards mortar units of various fronts, from 1944 to June 1945 - deputy commander of artillery of the 3rd Ukrainian Front for guards mortar units, and then - deputy commander for guards mortar units of the artillery commander of the Southern Group of Forces (Austria).

Being the permanent head of the Kapustin Yar test site for 27 years, V.I. Wozniuk achieved its transformation into the largest testing and research center. Former subordinates remember him as a strict commander, a tireless builder, the true owner of the landfill. Vozniuk did not consider personal time when it came to the interests of the service, and demanded the same from his subordinates. There was a lot of work, including night work. Vasily Ivanovich liked to answer the complaints of the landfill employees about irregular working hours: “We have an eight-hour working day at the landfill: eight hours before lunch and eight hours after.”

Nevertheless, the “founding father” of the test site took care not only of missiles, but also of the city of Znamensk, the administrative center of the test site. The servicemen of KapYar and their families lived here. Built on waste salt marshes, the city stood out in lush greenery. All residents, from schoolchildren to military personnel, participated in the struggle for landscaping. Improvement competitions were unfolding between quarters and yards. Vozniuk personally walked around the streets and yards, checked their condition, and communicated with residents. All suggestions and wishes were recorded by the adjutant on record, and subsequently found implementation. For Vasily Ivanovich there were no trifles. The needs of people, their way of life, were no less important to him than rocket tests.

The "founding father" of the Kapustin Yar test site retired in 1973, three years before his death. In accordance with the will of V.I. Voznyuk, he is buried in the city of Znamensk. And all his awards were transferred to the museum of Dnepropetrovsk, where V.I. Vozniuk.

But let's get back to the history of the polygon.

The construction of the Kapustin Yar test site began on August 20, 1947. The test site was intended for test launches of the first combat ballistic missiles, the launch of geophysical and meteorological satellites, as well as space objects of small mass.

The first officers arrived at the construction site of the landfill in August 1947. And already in September, a special-purpose brigade of the Reserve of the Supreme High Command was sent there under the command of Major General of Artillery A.F. Tveretsky, which delivered two special trains with special missile and telemetry equipment from Germany.

Already by the beginning of October 1947, in addition to the concrete test bench, a launch pad with a bunker, a temporary technical position, an assembly building, a bridge, and a warehouse for rocket fuel were built. Subsequently, a highway and a 20-kilometer railway line were built connecting the test site with the main highway to Stalingrad (now the city of Volgograd).

Living at the training ground, especially at first, was incredibly difficult. They built a lot, but the servicemen and builders themselves had to live in the bare steppe in tents and dugouts, some were quartered in the huts of the village of Kapustin Yar. The management of the landfill was housed in a special train. It was necessary to prepare the test site for missile testing as soon as possible, and there was simply no time left for housing construction. The first living quarters for the personnel of the test site began to be built only in 1948.

October 1, 1947 in Moscow V.I. Voznyuk reported to the country's leadership about the readiness of the test site for testing, and after 2 weeks, on October 14, 1947, the first batch of A-4 (V-2) missiles was delivered to the test site and a group of designers headed by S.P. Korolev.

On October 18, 1947, under the leadership of Korolev, at 10:47 Moscow time, the first launch of a ballistic missile in the USSR was made. She rose to a height of 86 kilometers and fell in the target area 274 kilometers from the start, deviating to the left of the headmistress by 30 kilometers. The target was considered a square measuring 40 by 40 km, so the tests were successful.

A year later, on October 10, 1948, the first Russian-made ballistic missile R-1, launched from the Kapustin Yar test site, opened the rocket and space era in the USSR. The successes of Soviet designers made it possible in the shortest possible time to create rocket weapons for the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union. For a whole 10 years (from 1947 to 1957) Kapustin Yar became the only test site for Soviet ballistic missiles. The range tested missiles from R-1 to R-14, the Burya intercontinental missile, the last Cold War missile RSD-10, the Scud missile, many other short and medium-range missiles, cruise missiles, complexes and missiles air defense.

At the same time, KapYar began to be used as a launch site for geophysical and then meteorological rockets. In June 1951, the first series of rocket launches with dogs on board took place here.

However, the main purpose of the test site was to test combat missile systems. On February 20, 1956, a nuclear missile test was carried out at the Kapustin Yar test site: the R-5 rocket delivered a warhead to a given area of ​​the Astrakhan steppe, where a nuclear explosion occurred. In the early 50s, along with test launches of missiles, the formation and development of the test base of the range continued. Starting and technical complexes are being built. In September 1958, single and group launches of all available types of missiles were carried out from the test site. The arriving leadership of the USSR was shown the advantages of the centralized use of missile weapons. The result was the adoption of a historic decision to create the Strategic Missile Forces.

In subsequent years, a large number of various short and medium-range missiles, cruise missiles, air defense systems and missiles were tested at the test site. From the beginning of the 1950s at least 11 airborne nuclear explosions were carried out at the Kapustin Yar test site at altitudes from 300 m to 5 km.

In the early 60s, medium-range missiles were tested at the test site: R-14 and its silo version R-12, which formed the basis of the country's missile shield in the 1960s-1980s. For testing the R-12 rocket, the Kapustin Yar test site was awarded the Order of the Red Star.

Since the beginning of the 1960s, another area no less important than testing rocket weapons has been space exploration. In the shortest possible time, the personnel of the test site mastered the technology for preparing the launch of spacecraft. The Kapustin Yar range received the functions of the cosmodrome on March 16, 1962 - on this day the first small research satellite Kosmos-1 was launched into the Earth's orbit, which marked the beginning of serial launches.

On October 14, 1969, the Interkosmos-1 satellite, created by specialists from the socialist countries, was launched, and the Kapustin Yar cosmodrome acquired international status. Indian satellites "Ariabhata" and "Bhaskara", French - "Sneg-3" went into flight from its launch pads.

For two decades, the Kapustin Yar cosmodrome became the launch site for "small" satellites for scientific and national economic purposes. With the construction of specialized test sites for launching such satellites, the need for such launches gradually decreased, and in 1988 they were discontinued from the launch complexes of the Kapustin Yar cosmodrome.

In connection with the signing in 1987 of an agreement on the reduction of IRM missiles, test work was almost completely stopped at the test site. Starting and technical positions were mothballed, although they were left in working order. For the next 10 years they were not used.

Perestroika and the chaos of the 90s led to a significant reduction in the amount of testing work at the site. For the KapYar command in this difficult period, the main thing was to preserve the unique personnel of missile system testers. The management of the landfill "fought" for each of its units, trying to protect them from reduction. After all, then it would be very difficult to restore the lost.

The revival of the test site and the cosmodrome began in October 1998, when the 4th State Central Test Site was transformed into the 4th State Central Interspecific Test Site (4 GTsMP).

Testing of new models of rocket technology for various purposes was resumed at the test site (in 1999, the Emba and Sary-Shagan test sites were relocated to Kapustin Yar).

After many years of inactivity, in 1998 a commercial launch of the Cosmos 11K65M carrier rocket was carried out from the cosmodrome, which put a French satellite into orbit, and in 1999 two more research satellites were launched under international cooperation programs.

With the beginning of the 21st century, the Kapustin Yar training ground again became in demand for military purposes.

In particular, repeated tests of the S-400 Triumph air defense system took place at the training ground. On July 12-13, 2007, two targets were successfully hit: one at a speed of 2800 m / s, and the second at an altitude of 16 km. On March 2, 2015, during live firing using S-400 air defense systems, target missiles imitating modern air attack weapons were also successfully hit.

In 2005, the training launch of the RT-2PM missile of the Topol complex was successfully carried out from the Kapustin Yar test site, in March 2014 the RS-12M Topol ICBM was launched, and on March 26, 2015, information appeared in the media about the successful test launch of a small-sized ICBM with increased firing accuracy RS-26 "Rubezh".

In 2007, the R-500 cruise missile for the Iskander-K OTRK was tested at the test site. And in October 2011, tests of the Iskander-M OTRK took place.

At the beginning of 2015, representatives of the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the forthcoming testing of combat robotic systems for the Strategic Missile Forces at the test site. In this regard, one of the final stages of the preparatory work is being carried out, which consists in the modernization of the KaPYar data transmission system, which will create a single information space for the test site. It is planned to test mobile and stationary combat robotic systems responsible for the remotely controlled deployment of unmasking and signaling means, such as various beacons and sensors.

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STRUCTURE AND TASKS OF THE POLYGON TODAY

The Kapustin Yar test site is located on the territory of the Astrakhan region, near the village of Kapustin Yar in the lower reaches of the Volga. The area of ​​the Kapustin Yar test site is 650 sq. km. Part of the territory of the landfill is located on the territory of Kazakhstan.

The administrative and residential center of the polygon is the city Znamensk with a population of about 32 thousand people. The city is a closed administrative-territorial entity (ZATO). Initially, the town where the military lived was built up with Finnish houses, capital buildings appeared from 1951. Until 1962, it was simply called Kapustin Yar-1, and Znamensk received the status of a city and its current name on January 11, 1962. Since that time, the city has been intensive construction of residential buildings and infrastructure facilities has begun. The city received the status of ZATO on July 14, 1992.

At present, the Kapustin Yar test site faces a number of complex and important tasks that determine its prospects. This:

• testing of new measuring complexes based on space technologies;
• formation of a control and measuring base for carrying out docking and adjustment work of strategic missile systems;
• testing of aerospace defense systems;
• testing of missile defense systems;
• testing of new complexes and missiles for operational-tactical purposes;
• participation in conducting large-scale combined-arms exercises with live firing (one of the new tasks that were not previously characteristic of the training ground).

At present, there are four main research and testing divisions of weapons and military equipment in the structure of the Kapustin Yar test site: the Strategic Missile Forces, the Air Defense Forces, the Air Defense Forces and the Missile Forces and Artillery. The main element of the range is the experimental test base, which includes command posts, technical starting positions, measuring equipment and other components.

The following military units are deployed on the territory of the Kapustin Yar training ground:

• military unit 10837 - logistics base;
• military unit 15644 - 4th State Red Banner Order of the Red Star, central interspecific training ground of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation;
• military unit 15646 - 261st scientific and testing center;
• military unit 15683 - support division;
• military unit 21065 - 788th Research and Testing Center for Armament and Military Equipment of the Strategic Missile Forces;
• military unit 29139 - 708th Research and Testing Center for Air Defense Means of Interspecific Purpose;
• military unit 31926 - 20 OIS;
• military unit 33763 - 23rd separate security battalion;
• military unit 33782 - 35th separate mixed aviation squadron;
• military unit 33901 - railway battalion;
• military unit 39216 - communications regiment;
• military unit 42202 - 60th Order of the Red Star Training Center for the combat use of the Rocket Forces of the Ground Forces;
• military unit 47209 - training division of the Rocket Forces;
• military unit 48315 - 439th Guards Perekop Order of Kutuzov rocket artillery brigade of the Ground Forces;
• military unit 52910 - 30th separate engineering and testing unit;
• military unit 54003 - 88th aviation commandant's office;
• military unit 74322 - 118th research and testing center;
• military unit 75376 - Federal State Educational Institution of Secondary Vocational Education "161 School of Technicians of the Strategic Missile Forces".

Let's take a closer look at some of them.

Military unit 15646

Military unit 15646 (1st Directorate) was formed on September 2, 1946 to solve the problems of testing rocket technology, that is, it is one of the main parts of the test site. It is staffed by engineering and technical staff, which directly carries out test launches of missiles at the test site.

Depending on the types of rocket technology being tested, the organizational structure of military unit 15646 underwent changes at different times. In 2000, the 1st Directorate and the test center subordinate to it were transformed into a single structure - the 261st Research and Testing Center.

From the first launch of the A-4 to the launch of the Topol-M rocket, this is the path of test engineers of military unit 15646. They have thousands of launches of strategic missiles and launches of spacecraft for military and scientific purposes.

Military unit 21065

A significant share of the test work falls on the 788th Research and Testing Center, which was formed as a result of the merger of the 11th Emba State Testing Site, the 2nd Test Directorate of Tactical Missile Systems and the 34th Engineering Testing Unit.

In 1999, the personnel of the center in the bare steppe had to create a test base in a short time. The main specialization of the 788th Research and Testing Center at present is testing and research in the field of creating tactical and operational-tactical missile systems, reconnaissance and strike systems, anti-aircraft missile systems and military air defense systems, combat control and communications systems.

One of the main directions of the center's work is the Iskander theme. After the state tests of the Iskander complex were completed in 2004, experiments are being carried out here with modernized control and guidance systems for the complex, and new classes of missiles are being created.

Also, the center's specialists make a great contribution to the refinement and modernization of the S-300VM air defense systems, the Buk and Tor air defense systems, and the Smerch MLRS.

Military unit 29139

A special air defense range, now the 708th Research and Testing Center, was established in 1951 to test the first Soviet S-25 Berkut anti-aircraft missile system.

During its existence, the center tested many samples of anti-aircraft missile weapons, automation and radar equipment, which made it possible to solve tasks of national importance for the protection and defense of the country's air borders. The specialists of the center carried out more than 25 thousand launches of anti-aircraft missiles and target missiles, tested 200 samples of rocket technology.

Today, the center is working to improve tactical and technical missile weapons in the interests of all types and branches of the armed forces.

Military unit 52910 and military unit 74322

Measurement of missile trajectories is the most important type of work during test launches. The very first launches at the Kapustin Yar test site were provided by officers armed with German film theodolites. With the help of captured equipment, telemetric measurements were also made. All the tasks of processing and deciphering the data were assigned to the calculation bureau, the main equipment of which was slide rules and the first adding machines.

In 1962, on the basis of the measuring divisions of the testing units, the 3rd department of measurements and mathematical processing and the 30th separate engineering and testing unit were formed. The scale of the measurement work is evidenced by the geography of the units subordinate to the 3rd Directorate: 29 units dispersed from KapYar to Balkhash and Bratsk. The intensity of the work was so great that the measuring departments and the computer center worked around the clock.

By the beginning of the 21st century, the modern look of the measuring complex had developed at the test site. On September 1, 2001, the 118th Research and Testing Center was formed for better quality measurements during testing of new types of weapons. The entire system for collecting and processing measurement information has moved to a new level. It united measuring points, computer complexes of the computer center, automated places for analysis and evaluation, and command posts into a single information network. New technologies using satellite communication channels, unique software developed by the center's specialists made it possible to display the flight path of the tested product in real time.

Over the more than 50-year history of the center, its personnel provided measurements and calculations for thousands of launches, several generations of computer and measuring equipment were put into operation.

10th State Research Test Site Sary-Shagan

It is one of the main connections of the 4th GTsMP.

It was established in 1956 on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Located to the northwest and west of the lake. Balkhash. It is connected by a highway to the Kapustin Yar test site. Currently, the territory of the landfill is leased by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

Sary-Shagan is unique in that it is the only test site in Eurasia for testing anti-missile weapons systems. Also, the personnel of the test site made a significant contribution to testing the combat equipment of missiles of strategic equipment systems.

During the existence of the test site, more than 70 missile defense systems and more than 20 types of anti-missiles have been tested on it. In the 60s - 80s, missile defense systems based on new physical principles were tested at the test site (Terra and Omega projects to create domestic combat lasers).

Military unit 33763

The security battalion was formed in 1946 from front-line soldiers. Throughout the existence of the range, the personnel of the battalion solved the most important tasks of ensuring the protection of the range, carrying out checkpoint and commandant service.

Military unit 33782

The 158th mixed aviation regiment was formed in 1959. To ensure testing, the pilots carried out the dropping of targets for anti-aircraft guided missiles, flights with control and measuring equipment, and searched for separable parts of the missiles. At present, the regiment has been transformed into the 35th separate mixed squadron. It is armed with An-72, An-26 aircraft and Mi-8 helicopters. The squadron is based at a military airfield near the city of Znamensk (Kapustin Yar airfield).

Military unit 33901

The railway battalion was formed in 1968, but the history of the railroad workers of the landfill began much earlier, with the laying of the first railway lines. A whole railway network was created connecting the sites of the landfill. Military railway workers serve four hauls (about 50 echelons pass annually), carry out current repairs of railway tracks and maintenance of the locomotive fleet of the training ground, and constant maintenance of the combat readiness of the rolling stock.

SERVICE AT THE POLYGON KAPUSTIN YAR

A test engineer is a unique profession that is not taught in any university. They are prepared directly at the landfill. To learn the basics of test work, an officer must serve in an engineering position for at least 6 years.

A qualified tester is an officer with the rank of colonel, as a rule, a candidate or doctor of technical sciences, whose age is 45-50 years. He must be able to communicate on an equal footing with representatives of the military industry and the general designer, defending the interests of the Ministry of Defense, and this implies solid experience and a level of technical literacy. The special responsibility of the work of the tester is due to the fact that large financial resources are allocated for the development of weapons by the state, and it depends on the tester whether this or that sample will be recognized as fit for adoption.

But not only testers should be qualified specialists. Even soldier and sergeant positions at the training ground involve great responsibility. For example, driving a Topol-M combat vehicle cannot be entrusted to a conscript soldier. This work is usually performed by contract sergeants.

Another extremely responsible soldier's work at the training ground is refueling liquid rockets. The fuel components are explosive, and if the refueling procedure is not correct, an explosion may occur.

A complex and science-intensive soldier's specialty is the operator of measuring instruments. The operator must have a higher education and be proficient in computer technology. They work in the field with video and film theodolites, photo-recording stations. The positions of operators are completed by military personnel under the contract, as a rule, the wives of officers.

One of the social problems associated with service at the training ground is the resettlement of servicemen who are retiring or retiring from ZATO Znamensk. This problem is solved both by commissioning apartment buildings for military personnel in other cities (most often in Volgograd and Volzhsky), and by issuing state housing certificates to military personnel dismissed from the ranks of the Armed Forces.

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Coordinates of the Kapustin Yar cosmodrome: degrees: 48.5 north latitude; 45.8 east longitude. Orbits of inclination, degrees: minimum 48.4; maximum 50.7.

Where is the Kapustin Yar Cosmodrome located?

The spaceport is located in the Astrakhan region, Znamensk. The official name is the 4th State Central Interdepartmental Test Site of the Russian Federation. Auxiliary spaceport. From 1988 to 1999 no orbital launches were made.

A group of specialists, headed by a rocket artilleryman, General V.I. Voznyuk, in 1946. did a great job of choosing the place of the future. On the recommendation of this group, the area of ​​the village of Kapustin Yar of the Astrakhan region, in the lower reaches of the Volga, was chosen as the site for the construction of the cosmodrome. For a month and a half of work by the beginning of October 1947, in addition to a concrete test bench, a launch pad with a bunker, a temporary technical position, an assembly building, and a bridge were built.

A highway and a railway line connecting the test site with the main highway to Stalingrad were built. They built a lot, but only for the rocket. By October 1, 1947, Vozniuk reported to Moscow that the test site was fully prepared for missile launches. And already on October 14, 1947, the first batch of A-1 (V-2) missiles arrived at the test site. Even earlier, Sergey Pavlovich Korolev and other specialists arrived at the training ground.

For 10 years (from 1947 to 1957) Kapustin Yar was the only test site for Soviet ballistic missiles. The test site was used to test missiles R-1 (September - October 1948, September - October 1949), R-2 (September - October 1949), R-5 (March 1953) and others.

Scientific research

Even during the first series of launches in October-November 1947, Kapustin Yar began to be used as a launch site for geophysical rockets. Scientific instruments were installed on the A-1 rocket, which launched on November 2, 1947. Since then, this tradition has been maintained until the 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.

The international cooperation

Since October 14, 1969, Kapustin Yar has been functioning as an international cosmodrome. On that day, the launch of the Interkosmos-1 satellite, created by specialists from the socialist countries, took place. The Indian satellites Ariabhata and Bhaskara and the French satellite Sneg-3 took off from Kapustin Yar. Kapustin Yar played an important role in the training of qualified cadres of rocket and space technology testers and leading cadres for new cosmodromes.

The Kapustin Yar Cosmodrome has assumed the role of a spaceport for "small" rockets and "small" research satellites of the Earth. This specialization existed until 1988, when the need for launches of such satellites was sharply reduced and space launches from the Kapustin Yar cosmodrome ceased.

Kapustin Yar — Construction of the cosmodrome

The first officers arrived at the training ground on August 20, 1947. They pitched tents, organized a kitchen, a hospital. Together with Vozniuk's guards, military builders arrived. The conditions were difficult, and what could be the "conditions" in the bare steppe. On the third day, the construction of a concrete stand for firing tests of engines began.

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. The first housing for officers appeared only in 1948. Prior to this, builders and testers lived in tents, temporary shelters, in peasant huts.

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

Kapustin Yar is the 4th State Central Interdepartmental Test Site of the Russian Federation. It is 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 launching combat ballistic missiles, geophysical and meteorological missiles, as well as space objects of small mass. Space objects launched into near-Earth orbit have an orbital inclination to the equatorial plane ranging from 480 to 510. Since 1988, it has not been practically exploited. At present, an interspecific test site has been created on its basis.

It is necessary to start 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 Werner von Braun, who himself, together with the most significant part of the team of developers and scientists, totaling about 400 people, ended up in the hands of the US military and continued his work already in the United States. All the most valuable things from factories, testing and research centers, including several dozen assembled V-2 rockets, almost all special test equipment and documentation, had already been taken to the United States when the first Soviet intelligence officers and specialists appeared on the ruins of the rocket cradle. Collecting the remnants of the German team and documentation, shaking the wastebaskets of research centers, the specialists nevertheless managed to collect enough material in order to reproduce the design of the V-1 and V-2 rockets. In the USSR, a number of research institutes and design bureaus were urgently formed, which came to grips with solving this problem. There is a need to create a specialized testing ground 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 test site in New Mexico, it was decided to create such a test site in the USSR and Major General Vasily Ivanovich Voznyuk, who was tasked with leading the search for a site suitable for the construction of the landfill set to work. The place for its placement was chosen from seven options, which were carefully examined in the shortest possible time, materials on meteorology, hydrology, communications, construction possibilities, etc. were collected and analyzed. As a result, the areas near Volgograd, near the village of Kapustin Yar in the Astrakhan region (which later gave the name to the new landfill) and the village of Naurskaya in the Grozny region, were recognized as the most suitable. At the same time, until June 1947, as evidenced by archival documents, preference was given to the village of Naurskaya. One of the memos of Marshal of Artillery Nikolai Yakovlev said: "The construction of the GCP in the area of ​​​​the village of Naurskaya makes it possible to build a test route of up to 3000 kilometers and ensure testing not only of long-range missiles, but also of all types of land-based anti-aircraft and sea rockets. This option will require the lowest material costs for the resettlement of the local population and for the transfer of enterprises to other areas. The construction of the landfill in Naurskaya was opposed only by the Minister of Animal Husbandry Kozlov, who motivated his protest by the need to alienate a significant part of pasture land. On June 3, 1947, Kapustin Yar was determined by the Council of Ministers of the USSR of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks No. By the same decision, Major General Vasily Ivanovich Voznyuk was entrusted with the construction of the landfill and he was appointed its future head.

The first officers arrived at the training ground on August 20, 1947. They pitched tents, organized a kitchen, a hospital. Together with Vozniuk's guards, military builders arrived. The conditions were difficult, if at all one can speak of any conditions in the bare steppe. Already on the third day, on the slope of the Smyslin beam, 10 kilometers from the village, the construction of a concrete stand for firing tests of A-4 engines began, which was built according to German drawings and equipped with equipment exported from Germany and a bunker to monitor the progress of the 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. For a month and a half of work by the beginning of October 1947, in addition to a concrete test bench and a 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 landfill with the main highway to Stalingrad (Volgograd).

They built a lot and only for the A-4 rocket, which was listed first in the list of priorities. The construction of housing for personnel at the training ground was not carried out until 1948, so the builders and future testers lived in the bare steppe, in tents, dugouts, temporary buildings, or lodged in peasant huts. The authorities and specialists who arrived at the training ground 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, Vozniuk reported to Moscow that the test site was fully ready for missile launches, and on October 14, 1947, the first batch of V-2 (A-4) missiles, assembled partly in Germany, partly in Podlipki, arrived at the test site.

October 18, 1947 at 10:47 Moscow time, the first launch of a ballistic missile in the USSR was made. 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 start with a deviation of about 30 km from the target**. The first series of launches took place from October 18 to November 13, 1947. During this period, 11 rockets were launched (according to other sources 10) V-2 of which 9 reached the target (albeit with a large deviation from the desired trajectory) and 2 crashed.

For 10 years (from 1947 to 1957) Kapustin Yar became the only test site for Soviet ballistic missiles. Tests of R-1 missiles (September - October 1948, September - October 1949), R-2 (September - October 1949), R-5 (March 1953), R-12, R-14 were carried out at the test site , the last missile of the Cold War, the infamous SS-20 RSD-10, the world-famous Scud, and a myriad of other short and medium range missiles, cruise missiles, systems 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. Scientific instruments were installed on the V-2 rocket, which launched on November 2, 1947. Since then, this tradition has been maintained until the 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 program of missile launches, the formation and development of the test base of the range was going on, launch and technical complexes were being built. On February 20, 1956, a test of nuclear missile weapons was carried out at the Kapustin Yar test site. The launched R-5M rocket delivered a nuclear warhead to the Aral steppe, where a nuclear explosion thundered. In 1957-1959, Burya intercontinental ballistic missiles were launched at the Kapustin Yar test site. 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, for launching which small-capacity launch vehicles of the Kosmos series were used.

On October 14, 1969, the Interkosmos-1 satellite, created by specialists from the socialist countries, was launched from the Kapustin Yar test site. The Indian satellites Ariabhata and Bhaskara, the French satellite Sneg-3, also went into flight from the now international cosmodrome. Kapustin Yar played an important role in the training of qualified cadres of rocket and space technology testers and leading cadres for new cosmodromes. The Kapustin Yar cosmodrome assumed the role of a cosmodrome for "small" rockets and "small" research satellites of the Earth. This specialization continued until 1988, when the need for launches of such satellites was sharply reduced and space launches from the Kapustin Yar cosmodrome were discontinued. In addition, the agreement signed in 1987 on the reduction of SRS missiles led to an almost complete cessation of test work at the test site. Starting and technical positions were mothballed for about 10 years, but were constantly maintained in working condition and, if necessary, could be used at any time. The last known test launch was made on June 22, 1988. This was the sixth and last flight of the BOR-5 project.

In 1998, the long-awaited revival of the test site and the cosmodrome began. After many years of inactivity, a commercial launch of the Cosmos 11K65M carrier rocket was carried out 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 for an interspecies testing ground have finally come to fruition. In 1999, test sites from Emba and Sary-Shagan were relocated to the site.

Jan Sereda

Polygon Kapustin Yar

Kapustin Yar, .. Cap. Yar, as it is customary to call it in everyday life, and now Znamensk, a city that is not even marked on maps, mysterious to others, unobtrusive in appearance ... Russia, who made an invaluable contribution to its power, strength and independence.

On May 13, 1946, by the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, the State Central Testing Ground of the Ministry of Defense "Kapustin Yar" was established for scientific research and testing of rocket technology.

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

Thanks to the selfless work of scientists, designers, workers, military specialists, the first domestic ballistic missile is being created in a short time. At the same time, a city is being built, technical and starting positions are being saturated with equipment, 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, became the starting point of national 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 landfill in this area consisted both in improving the complexes already in service, and in developing new ones. During the demonstration of all available types of missiles to the leaders of the state 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 1960s, new samples 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 rocket. Solid-propellant missiles were also tested at the test site, including the famous RSD-10 (SS-20 according to Western classification), the liquidation of which under the INF Treaty also took place here, in Kapustin Yar.

It is impossible to imagine the effective use of the latest rocket technology 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 Rocket 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 created missile units, the training and retraining of rocket 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 range, but also operational-tactical systems, as well as missile systems for the Air Defense Forces, including the famous S-300PMU complex. At present, tests of the newest complex - the S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile system - are being completed at the test site. The principal feature of the S-400 is its ability to effectively destroy all existing and promising air attack weapons in the world. Priority targets for such air defense systems will be previously unattainable AWACS aircraft - jammers that provide 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 missiles from the S-400 will become the main long-range weapon of combat aircraft of the Russian Air Force.

Testing missile systems would not make sense without the possibility of obtaining and processing measurement information. To ensure the effectiveness of these tests allows the polygon command-measuring complex (CIP).

Years passed, generations changed, technology improved. Here, in Astrakhan, the word "rocketeer" 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, equipped with modern equipment and technology.

Victor Antonovich

It is located in the Astrakhan region to the east of the railway station Ashuluk. In Soviet times, the landfill was located on the territories of two republics - Russia and Kazakhstan. The area of ​​120 km by 38 km allotted for it is completely located within the Astrakhan region, and the other part of it remained abroad (see the pilot map).

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Kapustin Yar

Kapustin Yar (often abbreviated as Cap-Yar) is a missile military training ground in the northwestern part of the Astrakhan region. Official name: 4th State Central Interspecific Range of the Russian Federation (4 GTsMP).

The test site was established on May 13, 1946 to test the first Soviet ballistic missiles. Orbits of inclination, degrees: minimum 48.4, maximum 50.7. The landfill area is about 650 km 2 (occupied an area of ​​up to 0.40 million ha), located mostly in Russia, but also occupies land within the Atyrau and West Kazakhstan regions of Kazakhstan.

The administrative and residential center of the landfill is the city of Znamensk (ZATO) with a population of 32.1 thousand people. (2005). The polygon is named after the ancient village of Kapustin Yar, located nearby, adjoining the city of Znamensk from the southeast.