The Titov Main Test and Space Systems Control Centre ( rus, Главный испытательный центр испытаний и управления космическими средствами (ГИЦИУ КС), Glavny Ispytatelny Tsentr Ispytany i Upravleniya Kosmicheskimi Sredstvami (GITSIU COP)) (also referenced as the Titov Space Control Centre and Titov Space Centre) is the main

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

n military and commercial satellite control centre. It is run by the Russian Space Forces. Located roughly southwest of

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

closed town A closed city or closed town is a settlement where travel or residency restrictions are applied so that specific authorization is required to visit or remain overnight. Such places may be sensitive military establishments or secret research ins ...

Krasnoznamensk Krasnoznamensk (russian: Краснознаменск) is the name of several urban localities in Russia: * Krasnoznamensk, Kaliningrad Oblast, a town in Krasnoznamensky District of Kaliningrad Oblast *Krasnoznamensk, Moscow Oblast, a closed town ...

, the centre was built in 1957 as part of the

Soviet space program The Soviet space program (russian: Космическая программа СССР, Kosmicheskaya programma SSSR) was the national space program of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), active from 1955 until the dissoluti ...

, and was known by the name of Golitsyno-2.

History

A resolution of the

Council of Ministers A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or ...

of 30 January 1956 provided for the establishment of a command and control complex for the first flight satellites. Work on the construction of the centre began on May 8, 1957. GITSIU COP and subordinate military units together with the Mission Control Centre support the entire space programme. The military is responsible for the condition of many domestic orbital systems — military, scientific, manned and other. Specialists at the main centre started working with the first launches, first artificial satellite, the first manned flight into space. They also worked on Soviet Moonwalkers (

lunokhod Lunokhod ( rus, Луноход, p=lʊnɐˈxot, "Moonwalker") was a series of Soviet robotic lunar rovers designed to land on the Moon between 1969 and 1977. Lunokhod 1 was the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on an extraterrestrial ...

y), and on the programme for the orbital station

Mir ''Mir'' (russian: Мир, ; ) was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to&n ...

, right up until the last seconds of its existence. Now among their many tasks is work with the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest Modular design, modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos ( ...

Centre

Currently the Centre manages 75% of the domestic Russian orbital spacecraft constellation. By

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of ...

of the

Russian President The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...

on 14 August 2001, the centre was named after Gherman Titov, to honour the second human to orbit the Earth, who had been one of the leaders of the Centre. The centre has locations throughout Russia involved in testing, measuring and certifying equipment which are subordinated to the main centre.

References

{{authority control Soviet and Russian space program locations Space technology research institutes Military installations of Russia 1957 establishments in Russia

History

Centre

See also

References