Tsiolkovsky () is a

closed town A closed city or town is a settlement where travel or residency restrictions are applied. Historically, the construction of closed cities became increasingly common after the beginning of the Cold War, particularly in the Soviet Union. Since t ...

Amur Oblast Amur Oblast () is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located on the banks of the Amur and Zeya rivers in the Russian Far East. The oblast borders Heilongjiang province of the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the south. The administrati ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, located on the Bolshaya Pyora River (a

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

of the Zeya), from the

border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

with

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and north of

Blagoveshchensk Blagoveshchensk ( rus, Благовещенск, p=bləɡɐˈvʲeɕːɪnsk, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Amur Oblast, Russia. It is located at the confluence of the Amur River, Amur and the ...

, the

administrative center An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...

of the

oblast An oblast ( or ) is a type of administrative division in Bulgaria and several post-Soviet states, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Historically, it was used in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The term ''oblast'' is often translated i ...

. Population: The town serves the nearby

spaceport A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft, by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word ''spaceport''—and even more so ''cosmodrome''—has traditionally referred to sites capable of ...

Vostochny Cosmodrome The Vostochny Cosmodrome () is a Russian space launch facility in the Amur Oblast, located above the 51st parallel north in the Russian Far East. It was built to help reduce Russia’s reliance on the Baikonur Cosmodrome which is located on lan ...

History

The town was founded in 1961.Official website of Uglegorsk
Historical and Geographical Reference
From 1969 to 1994, it was called Uglegorsk and was established in order to serve the nearby

ICBM An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear warheads). Conven ...

base of the

Soviet Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also known as the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union, the Red Army (1918–1946) and the Soviet Army (1946–1991), were the armed forces of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republi ...

which was code-named Svobodny-18. The name was given after another settlement called Svobodny which lies south of it. The closed status was assigned by the

Decree A decree is a law, legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state, judge, monarch, royal figure, or other relevant Authority, authorities, according to certain procedures. These procedures are usually defined by the constitution, Legislativ ...

of the

Presidium A presidium or praesidium is a council of executive officers in some countries' political assemblies that collectively administers its business, either alongside an individual president or in place of one. The term is also sometimes used for the ...

of the

Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR The Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR, later the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation, was the supreme government institution of the Russian SFSR from 1938 to 1990; between 1990 and 1993, it was a permanent legislature (parliament), elected ...

of October 19, 1965. In 1994 the entire complex was renamed to Uglegorsk (). In April 2013, President Vladimir Putin proposed to rename a town nearer to the Cosmodrome in honor of the founder of theoretical astronautics

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky (; rus, Константин Эдуардович Циолковский, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin ɪdʊˈardəvʲɪtɕ tsɨɐlˈkofskʲɪj, a=Ru-Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.oga; – 19 September 1935) was a Russi ...

. Later it was decided to assign this name to Uglegorsk. In March 2014 the settlement held a

public hearing In law, a hearing is the formal examination of a case (civil or criminal) before a judge. It is a proceeding before a court or other decision-making body or officer, such as a government agency or a legislative committee. Description A hearing ...

where the majority of participants were in favor of the renaming. In June 2014 the Council of People's Deputies of Uglegorsk approved the name change. In September 2015 the deputies of the Legislative Assembly of Amur Oblast adopted a law to change the status of the settlement of Uglegorsk and transform it into a city without changing the established administrative borders. The official documents to rename the city were sent for examination to the Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography (Rosreestr). On December 23 the

State Duma The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly (Russia), Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of Russia, Constitution of t ...

, the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

of the

Russian Parliament The Federal Assembly is the bicameral national legislature of Russia. The upper house is the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council, and the lower house is the State Duma. The assembly was established by the Constitution of the Russian F ...

voted in favour of a federal law on the renaming of the town, and on December 30 President Putin signed it into law, thus formalizing the name changing. On November 30, 2015, one of the streets of the town was renamed "3rd street of the Builders" () as a tribute to the creativity of

Eldar Ryazanov Eldar Aleksandrovich Ryazanov (; 18 November 1927 – 30 November 2015) was a Soviet and Russian film director, screenwriter, poet, actor and pedagogue whose popular comedies, satirizing the daily life of the Soviet Union and Russia, are celebrat ...

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is incorporated as Uglegorsk Urban Okrug—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

.Law #127-OZ As a municipal division, this administrative unit also has urban okrug status.Law #127-OZ stipulates that the municipal formations of the oblast are its administrative-territorial divisions.

Economy and infrastructure

The settlement contains thirty-three blocks of residential homes and a central heating plant. There is a secondary school, a children's arts school, two kindergartens, and a hospital. The settlement has a sports complex. Its construction began in 2005 and was planned to be finished by 2009 but due to lack of funding opening was postponed two years later to 2011.

Transportation

Ledyanaya railway station serves the town and is located from it on the

Trans-Siberian Railway The Trans-Siberian Railway, historically known as the Great Siberian Route and often shortened to Transsib, is a large railway system that connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway ...

. The

Amur Highway The Russian route R297 or the Amur Highway (so named after the nearby Amur River The Amur River () or Heilong River ( zh, s=黑龙江) is a perennial river in Northeast Asia, forming the natural border between the Russian Far East and Nor ...

(M58) also passes there.

Vostochny cosmodrome

In July 2010, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced that the area would be the site of a new

Vostochny cosmodrome The Vostochny Cosmodrome () is a Russian space launch facility in the Amur Oblast, located above the 51st parallel north in the Russian Far East. It was built to help reduce Russia’s reliance on the Baikonur Cosmodrome which is located on lan ...

("Eastern Spaceport"), to reduce Russian dependence on the

Baikonur cosmodrome The Baikonur Cosmodrome is a spaceport operated by Russia within Kazakhstan. Located in the Kazakh city of Baikonur, it is the largest operational space launch facility in terms of area. All Russian Human spaceflight, crewed spaceflights are l ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

. On early December 2011, a public debate held in Tsiolkovsky with the participation of officials from the

Russian space industry Russia's space industry comprises more than 100 companies and employs 250,000 people. Most of the companies are descendants of Soviet design bureau and state production companies. The industry entered a deep crisis following the dissolution of th ...

in which the settlement's future in the context of the construction of the new cosmodrome was discussed. It was announced the south-eastern district will be expanded with six-, nine-, and twelve-story buildings designed for the settlement of 12,000 people. The buildings will be built using solid blocks which will be produced in a factory located at Svobodny south of Tsiolkovsky. The south-east neighborhood will be located on 140 acres near the old part of the settlement."Космодром Восточный может лишить Углегорск названия", Amur Port, December 2, 2011.
/ref>

References

Notes

Sources

* {{Closed cities of Russia Populated places established in 1961 Closed cities Cities and towns in Amur Oblast Former urban-type settlements of Amur Oblast