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Russia-leased Baikonur busiest space launch pad again in 2013

23 carrier launches were made last year on the cosmodrome

MOSCOW, January 20, 13:44 /ITAR-TASS/. Baikonur space program launch pad, leased by Russia from Kazakhstan, has again confirmed its title as the world’s busiest launch pad with 23 carrier launches made last year, sources from Russia’s Roscosmos Federal Space Agency told Itar-Tass on Monday.

“Eleven Soyuz rockets blasted off from Baikonur in 2013, with four Soyuz-TMA piloted spacecraft and four Progress-M cargo craft on the International Space Station (ISS) program plus three more commercial launches made within the Federal Space Program,” the sources added.

Ten Proton rockets lifted off from Baikonur last year - one of the launches aborted - alongside one Zenit carrier rocket and a Strela (RS-18) rocket, a conversion from the Soviet RS-18 intercontinental ballistic missile.

In 2012, 21 carrier rockets were launched from Baikonur. Cape Canaveral in the United States was placed second, with 10 launches in 2012.

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