Yubileyniy is an

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

in Kyzylorda Oblast,

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

. It is part of the

Baikonur cosmodrome The Baikonur Cosmodrome ( kk, Байқоңыр ғарыш айлағы, translit=Baiqoñyr ğaryş ailağy, ; russian: Космодром Байконур, translit=Kosmodrom Baykonur, ) is a spaceport in an area of southern Kazakhstan leased to R ...

. It sits 40 km north-north-west of

Baikonur Baikonur ( kk, Байқоңыр, ; russian: Байконур, translit=Baykonur), formerly known as Leninsk, is a city of republic significance in Kazakhstan on the northern bank of the Syr Darya river. It is currently leased and administered ...

(at the site of 251 cosmodrome

) in the

desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

region of Ushkyzyl. The airport is leased by

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

from Kazakhstan as part of the “

” complex. The aerodrome operator is FSUE “TsENKI”. Yubileyniy airfield supports all types of aircraft, including

An-225 The Antonov An-225 Mriya ( uk, Антонов Ан-225 Мрія, lit=dream' or 'inspiration; NATO reporting name: Cossack) was a strategic airlift cargo aircraft designed and produced by the Antonov Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. It was or ...

"Mriya". The

maximum take-off weight The maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) or maximum gross takeoff weight (MGTOW) or maximum takeoff mass (MTOM) of an aircraft is the maximum weight at which the pilot is allowed to attempt to takeoff, take off, due to structural or other limits. The a ...

is 392 metric tons.

History

The airfield was built in the early 1980s for the development of the Buran reusable spacecraft program. The decree establishing the landing complex was adopted in October 1977. The airfield received the name "Jubilee," in connection with the 60th anniversary of the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...

. NPO Molniya was appointed the lead developer of the complex. The 20th Central Design Institute of the USSR Ministry of Defense carried out the design.The reusable space system Energia-Buran. Moscow: NPP OmV-Luch, 2004. - 356 p. In 1979, crews from the 130th Engineering Department began construction on the 4500 x 84 m

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

. The runway used M-600 monolithic high-strength concrete with a thickness of 26–32 cm on a sand-cement foundation with a thickness of 18 to 22 cm. The total excavation volume was about 2 million m³. The first facilities were commissioned in November 1981. The first landing was made in February 1980 by an

Mi-8 helicopter The Mil Mi-8 (russian: Ми-8, NATO reporting name: Hip) is a medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed by the Soviet Union in the 1960s and introduced into the Soviet Air Force in 1968. It is now produced by Russia. In addition to ...

from the aviation regiment of the Baikonur Cosmodrome". On January 29, 1982, an

An-26 The Antonov An-26 (NATO reporting name: Curl) is a twin-engined turboprop civilian and military transport aircraft, designed and produced in the Soviet Union from 1969 to 1986.Gordon, Yefim. Komissarov, Dmitry & Sergey. "Antonov's Turboprop Twins ...

landed. The first transportation to Baikonur of elements of the reusable space system “ Energia - Buran” by plane (

VM-T The Myasishchev VM-T ''Atlant'' ( Russian: ''Мясищев ВМ-Т «Атлант»'' ( "Atlas"), with the "VM-T" ("BM-T") standing for Vladimir MyasishchevTransport) was a variant of Myasishchev's M-4 ''Molot'' bomber (the "3M"), re-purposed ...

) took place on April 8, 1982. From 1982 to 1990, 59

flights were made to deliver large elements of the space complexes "Energy" and Buran. Buran spacecraft were transported to the Ramenskoye airfield near Moscow and the units of the Energia launch vehicle - from Izymyanka airfield in Kuibyshev (now

Samara Samara ( rus, Сама́ра, p=sɐˈmarə), known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev (; ), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with ...

). The airfield belonged to the

Ministry of Defense {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

. After 1992, the airfield was abandoned and partially looted. In 1995, the need arose to support heavy aircraft from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, launching US spacecraft under international commercial programs. Yubileyny became

Khrunichev Space Center The Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center (''Государственный космический научно-производственный центр (ГКНПЦ) имени М. В. Хру́ничева'' in Russian) is a ...

, the manufacturer of

Proton A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' elementary charge. Its mass is slightly less than that of a neutron and 1,836 times the mass of an electron (the proton–electron mass ...

heavy launch vehicles. Recruitment for civil aerodrome personnel was initiated. Radio navigation, radio communications, lighting, meteorological and other equipment were updated, and the runway was overhauled. In 1997, these works were completed and the experimental airfield was put into operation. From 1997 to 2011, the aerodrome received passenger flights carrying administrative and technical personnel. In 2017, the airfield was transferred to the FSUE " TsENKI". A reconstruction of the airfield was planned for 2018.

Geography

The terrain is a slightly wavy

plain In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands ...

(altitude 95–120 m). 4 km northeast of the airfield is Ushkızıl

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...

(altitude 135 m). Flora include wormwood-boylychy (northern) desert. The

soils Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former term ...

are brown desert-steppe. 8 km north of the airfield are

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of s ...

Darbas. No permanent watercourses and reservoirs are nearby. In the spring, after snowmelt and rain, ''takyr'', small temporary lakes up to 0.5 m deep form.

References

External links

Landing complex of the Baikonur cosmodrome

Aviation of Baikonur and Kazakhstan

Jubilee Airport in the airports directory

Scheme (croc) of the Jubilee airfield
{{authority control Buran program Baikonur Airports in Kazakhstan Kyzylorda Region Airports built in the Soviet Union

History

Geography

See also

References

External links