Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Spaceport in Mirny, Russia
Plesetsk Cosmodrome is a spaceport in Mirny, located in the northern part of Russia, where launch pads sit scattered across a forested area marked by birch trees and tundra. The site includes assembly buildings, control centers, and technical structures connected by roads and railway lines.
In the late 1950s, this site began as a military missile base before being adapted for civil and commercial space launches. The facility conducted its first satellite launch in 1966 and remained secret for decades.
The space center operated in complete secrecy until 1983, when British physics teacher Geoffrey Perry and students discovered its existence by tracking satellite orbits.
The northern location allows launches into polar orbits, which work well for Earth observation and certain communications satellites. Access is heavily restricted due to the military status of the site.
A British physics teacher and his students discovered the existence of the spaceport in 1983 by tracking satellite orbits, even though the site had been kept completely secret until then. The town of Mirny itself was not shown on official maps for many years.
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