Plesetsk Cosmodrome Credit - © Mark Wade Media Gallery

Plesetsk was the Soviet Union's northern cosmodrome, used for polar orbit launches of mainly military satellites, and was at one time the busiest launch centre in the world. The collapse of the Soviet Union put the main launch site of Baikonur in Kazakh territory. It now seems that once the Proton rocket is retired, Baikonur will be abandoned and Plesetsk will be Russia's primary launch centre. Upgrades to existing launch facilities will allow advanced versions of the Soyuz rocket and the new Angara launch vehicle to be launched from Plesetsk. Plesetsk's major drawback was the lower net payload in geosynchronous orbit from a northern latitude launch site. However Russia is planning to remove the disadvantage by looping geosynchronous satellites around the moon, using lunar gravity to make the necessary orbital plane change.

Plesetsk began as the world's first operational ICBM base. The northern location of Plesetsk allowed more of the continental US to be covered than the more southerly Baikonur. Four massive R-7 Angara integrated launch complexes (numbered SK-1 to SK-4) were built there at the end of the 1950's. The first two sites were completed in 1959, with the first launch being conducted on 30 July. Both sites were accepted into service on 15 December 1959. A second pair of launch pads entered service in 1961.

Each operational R-7 launch site cost 500 million roubles. This included the expense of the down-range radar and the radio control stations, each of which had to be located in taiga or bog and required the building of new roads, power lines, and so on.

The missiles were actually armed with nuclear warheads only once during their service, from September 11 to November 21, 1961, at the time of the Cuban missile crisis.The missiles were aimed at New York, Washington, Los Angeles, and Chicago. A third R-7 missile base (to follow Baikonur and Plesetsk) was planned for Krasnoyarsk but never built. Plesetsk also operationally operated four R-16 ICBM launchers in the 1960's..

Meanwhile, future space plans indicated the need for a launch site that could reach militarily useful polar orbits, inaccessible from Baikonur. Galaktin Yeliseyevich Alpaidze lad the expedition to select the site for the Northern Cosmodrome at the beginning of 1962. In December 1962 Plesetsk was selected. The decree was issued on 2 January 1963. Korolev was personally involved in the decision.

A major defect at the Baikonur cosmodrome was that the living quarters were 30 km from the technical positions, forcing the workers to commute 3 to 4 hours a day and requiring many motor vehicles. This was rectified from the beginning at Plesetsk by locating the living quarters only 1 to 2 km from the technical positions. This population centre was named Mirniy.

Mirniy is linked by train to the launch complexes, 36 km away. The left flank of the launch complex array is on the Yemtsa River, and consists of four launch complexes for Soyuz and Molniya launch vehicles, analogous to the R-7 Semyorka launch facilities at Baikonur. The satellite payloads for these pads are prepared and integrated in Mirniy. On the right flank of Plesetsk is the Kosmos-3 Voskhod launch complex, two Chusovaya launch complexes at LC-132 for Kosmos-3M, and until 1974 the Raduga launch complex at LC-133 for the Kosmos-2M. Living areas for the launch service staff are near the pads, together with a nitrogen-oxygen plant, guidance stations, a work management centre, tracking stations, the railroad yard, and a communications centre.

Through good planning from the beginning the cosmodrome was very comfortable. Mirniy is a planned city in the taiga forest, with decent housing, excellent sports and recreation complexes,; fantastic food and juice factories, movie theatres, officer's clubs, a cultural centre, stores, hotels, playgrounds, memorials, and parks. In 1966 Mirniy obtained city status and the population eventually reached 80,000, not counting military staff. It is served by the Pevo Airport. Chief of the cosmodrome for the first 13 years was Glaktion Yehseyevich Alpaidze; first commander of the forces at Plesetsk from 1966 to 1973 was V I Voznyuk.

The first generation R-7 ICBM's already at Plesetsk were soon obsolete. The Yangel R-16U missile with its storable propellants could be launched in three hours from the go command, compared to 12 hours for the R-7 and R-9 Lox/Kerosene missiles. By 1968 all four Angara launch complexes had been taken out of service and were converted to space launch complexes.

The first to be converted was SK-1, renamed LC-41/1. By December 1965 it underwent two test exercises leading to the first space launch from Plesetsk on 17 March 1966. It was modernised in 1976 and finally disassembled in 1981, having been used for 2 R-7A ICBM and 308 R-7 space launches. The last launch from this pad was the Bion launch of 15 September 1989. Reconstruction of SK-1, for use in launch of the modernised Soyuz-2 launch vehicle, began in 1997.

SK-2 (later LC-16/2) was disassembled in 1966 and used to reconstruct LC-31 at Baikonur, which had been badly damaged in the explosion of the booster after an on-pad booster shutdown. It was rebuilt in 1979-1981, with the first launch on 19 February 1981.

SK-3 (renamed LC-43/3) was first used in 1970-1973 but was badly damaged in a rocket explosion on 18 June 1987. After restoration it returned to service in December 1988.

SK-4 (renamed LC-43/4) was used continuously from 1970 until it burned down in the failed launch of a Tselina-D ELINT satellite on 18 March 1980. It was restored to service in April 1983.

A new category of orbital launcher was added when in March 1967 the LC-133 'Raduga' complex for the Kosmos-2 light launch vehicle became operational. Up to its closure in 1977 164 launches were made.

The more powerful Kosmos-3 launch vehicle was first launched at Plesetsk from 1967 to 1969 from the LC-131 'Voskhod' complex. It was then replaced by more permanent facilities at LC-132 for the Kosmos-3M version of the vehicle.

The Tsyklon-3 medium launch vehicle was based on the Tsiklon-2 but featured automatic launch features. Launch complex 32 for the Tsiklon-3 began construction at the beginning of the 1970's at Plesetsk. The first pad was put into operation in 1977 and the second in 1979. This launch complex was developed by KB Transmash Minoshchemash, Chief Designer V N Solovyov.

Additional launch sites at Plesetsk were used for suborbital sounding rocket launches and tests of military missiles. Among these are the LC-158 used for RT-2PM ICBM tests and Start orbital launches.

In the 1980's work began on launch complex 35 for the new medium Zenit launch vehicle. This was not completed before the fall of the Soviet Union. Work was then abandoned since the rocket was built by a company now in the Ukraine, making it unsuitable for military use. The pad is now to be completed for use with the new all-Russian Angara rocket.

In the second half of the 1960's a total of six technical complexes were built, and two more were completed in the 1970's. From March 1966 to the end of the century over 1,500 orbital launches were made from Plesetsk, including the 'jubilee' launches of Cosmos 1000, 1500 and 2000.

• Name: White Sea Launch Area, Beloye More, Archangel'sk Oblast'. Plesetsk BELA. Latitude: 65.5000 N. Longitude: 38.0000 E. Launch Pads: 1. R-11FM, R-29.

• Name: Mobile launcher test area. Plesetsk GIP-53. Latitude: 63.0000 N. Longitude: 40.2000 E. Launch Pads: 1. Topol, Topol-M.

• Name: Area 16. Plesetsk LC16. Latitude: 62.9500 N. Longitude: 40.6800 E. Launch Pads: 1. Molniya 8K78M, Soyuz 11A511U. Complex 16 was the second R-7A ICBM launch complex to become operationall at Plesetsk, in 1960. In 1969, Pad 2 was cannibalized to upgrade the Area 1 facility in Baikonur. Pad 2 was not again brought into operation until 1979. It was then completely renovated as a space launch pad for Molniya 8K78M/Soyuz 11A511U class vehicles. The first launch was on 19 February 1981, and it continued in use in this role into the 21st Century.

  The complex followed the design of the protoype facility built at Area 31 of Baikonur and included its own residential area for military personnel and assembly buildings for launchers and payloads. The launchers were assembled and integrated with their payload in a horizontal position and transported to the launch pad by the railway. As operational ICBM facilities, the complex consisted of: Launch pad 2; Assembly Hall 4; and Residential Area 16.

• Name: Area 32. Plesetsk LC32. Latitude: 62.9150 N. Longitude: 40.8003 E. Launch Pads: 2. Tsyklon 3. Construction of this highly-automated launch complex for the Tsiklon-3 launch vehicle started in 1970. The complex was designed by the Transmash Design bureau led by Chief Designer V N Solovyev. The complex consisted of two pads. The vehicle was assembled and integrated with its payload in the assembly building. It was then delivered to the launch pad by railway in a horizontal position. A launch pad erector placed the rocket into vertical position. No service tower was needed for the storable-propellant booster.

• Name: Area 41. Plesetsk LC41. Latitude: 62.9300 N. Longitude: 40.5130 E. Launch Pads: 1. Molniya 8K78M, R-7A, Soyuz 11A511U, Voskhod 11A57, Vostok 8A92, Vostok 8A92M. Code named 'Lesobaza', this was the first complex completed at Plesetsk, being declared ready for military service with the R-7A ICBM in November 1959. The complex followed the design of the protoype facility built at Area 31 of Baikonur and included its own residential area for military personnel and assembly buildings for launchers and payloads. The launchers were assembled and integrated with their payload in a horizontal position and transported to the launch pad by the railway. As operational ICBM facilities, the complex consisted of: Launch pad 1; Assembly Hall 142; and Residential Area 41. During the Cuban missile crisis (11 September to 21 November 1962), an R-7A with a live thermonuclear weapon was held in readiness on this pad for launch on the United States with an 8 to 12 hour reaction time from the go order. LC 41 was withdrawn from ICBM service in 1963 and converted to a space launch pad for R-7-derived launch vehicles. The first space launch was on 17 March 1966, and it continued as the only space-launch pad at Plesetsk for this class of booster for serveral years. It continued in service until 1989, when reconstruction began as a pad for launch of the Zenit-2 booster. The collapse of the Soviet Union ended this work (the Zenit-2 being built in the newly-independent Ukraine). Work began in the late 1990's to rebuild it yet again as the launch pad for the new all-Russian Angara booster, but funds for this were a constant problem, leaving completion uncertain.

• Name: Area 43. Plesetsk LC43. Latitude: 62.9300 N. Longitude: 40.4600 E. Launch Pads: 4. Molniya 8K78M, R-7A, Soyuz 11A511U, Soyuz 11A511U2, Voskhod 11A57, Vostok 8A92M. Launch complex 43, consisting of two pads for R-7A ICBM's, became operational on 15 July 1961. These were two of the four original operational launch pads for the R-7A ICBM. Later converted for launch of Vostok, Soyuz and Molniya boosters. The complex follows the design of the protoype facility built at Area 31 of Baikonur and includes its own residential area for military personnel and assembly buildings for launchers and payloads. The launchers are assembled and integrated with their payload in a horizontal position and transported to the launch pad by the railway. As operational ICBM facilities, the complex consisted of: Launch pads 3 and 4; Assembly Hall 3; and Residential Area 43. In June 1967, Strategic Missile Forces started the process of retiring R-7 complexes in Plesetsk. In 1968, the double pads 3 and 4 were decommissioned and converted for space launch operations for R-7-derived boosters in support of Zenit, Meteor and Molniya spacecraft. The first space launch came on 3 December, 1969, and both pads continued in this role into the 21st Century.

• Name: Area 132. Plesetsk LC132. Latitude: 62.8930 N. Longitude: 40.8873 E. Launch Pads: 2. Kosmos 11K65M. Single launch complex consisting of 2 launch pads.

• Name: Area 133. Plesetsk LC133. Latitude: 62.8950 N. Longitude: 40.8673 E. Launch Pads: 3. Kosmos 11K63, Kosmos 11K65M, Rokot. Single launch complex consisting of 3 launch pads.

• Name: Area 158. Plesetsk LC158. Latitude: 63.0500 N. Longitude: 41.0800 E. Launch Pads: 1. Start, Start-1.

• Name: PU 11. Plesetsk PU11. Latitude: 62.9000 N. Longitude: 40.5000 E. Launch Pads: 1. R-16.

Plesetsk Credit - © Mark Wade

• 1958 April - Plesetsk construction begins. Launch Vehicle: R-7. Construction work begins on Angara (R-7) base at Plesetsk.

• 1959 October 31 - First R-7 missiles go on alert at Plesetsk. Launch Vehicle: R-7.

• 1983 August - Five were killed at Plesetsk due to electrical shorts.

• During 1984 - Three soldiers were killed in an explosion at the nitrogen/oxygen production facility at Plesetsk. This occurred during night-time preventive maintenance with no officer supervising the work.

• McDowell, Jonathan, Jonathan's Space Home Page, Harvard University, 1997-present. Jonathan McDowell's complete on-line listing of all objects orbited and over 20,000 rocket launches Accessed at: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html.

• Melnik, T G, Voenno-Kosmicheskiy Siliy, Nauka, Moscow, 1997.. Two-volume official history of the (now defunct) Russin space forces.