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‘Gagarin’s Start’ launch site at Baikonur spaceport to be turned into museum

According to the corporation, this needs to be done to preserve historical heritage and increase the attractiveness of Baikonur’s tourist area

MOSCOW, October 14. /TASS/. The Site No. 1 (or Gagarin's Start) launchpad at the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan may be turned into a museum where decommissioned space equipment will be put on display, Russia’s Roscosmos State Space Corporation said in a statement.

"The Roscosmos state corporation has proposed to Kazakhstan that Gagarin’s Start be excepted from the operation of the lease agreement and turned it into a museum complex where real models of space equipment will be put on display, which are stationed at the Baikonur spaceport but have no prospect of being used for designated purposes," the statement reads.

According to the corporation, this needs to be done to preserve historical heritage and increase the attractiveness of Baikonur’s tourist area.

The issue was discussed at the ninth meeting of the Russian-Kazakh intergovernmental commission on the Baikonur complex that took place in Astana on September 6-8.

Roscosmos added that the launch site was currently Kazakhstan’s state property that Russia had leased until 2050.

The Site No. 1 (or Gagarin's Start) - the oldest launchpad at the Baikonur spaceport - is where the first artificial earth satellite and the Vostok spaceship carrying the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, were launched from. The site is not operational at the moment.

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