Töretam (; ) is a station on the

Trans-Aral Railway The Trans-Aral Railway, also known as the Tashkent Railway, is a railway built in 1906 to connect Kinel and Tashkent, both then within the Russian Empire. For much of the early 20th century, it was the only railway link between European Russia a ...

, located in

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 ...

. The name means "Töre's grave" in the Kazakh language. Töre, or more formally, Töre-Baba, was a

nobleman Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

and descendant of

Genghis Khan Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, was the founder and first khan (title), khan of the Mongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting the Mongols, Mongol tribes, he launched Mongol invasions and ...

. Töretam is near 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 ...

, a Russianformerly Soviet

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 ...

, and near the city of

Baikonur Baikonur ( ; ) is a city in Kazakhstan on the northern bank of the Syr Darya river. It is currently leased and administered by the Russian Federation as an enclave until 2050. It was constructed to serve the Baikonur Cosmodrome with adminis ...

(formerly Leninsk, Baiqongyr in Kazakh), which was constructed to service the cosmodrome.

History

In the mid-1950s, the Soviet Union announced that space activities were being conducted from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which was assumed to be near the mining village of

, in the Kazakh SSR. The naming was a bit of misdirection as the launch facilities were located to the southwest at Töretam. At a press conference for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, Jules Bergman of

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

said to astronaut Thomas P. Stafford,

Baikonur, if you'll look on the coordinates, is 135 miles 17 kmaway or something. Tyuratam may only be a railhead, but it is the Tyuratam Launch Complex. They call it Baikonur, I know. . . . I'm going to call it Tyuratam. ABC is going to call it Tyuratam. SAC calls it Tyuratam. Can we once and for all straighten that out and arrive at a . . . name for it, Tom?

Deke Slayton Donald Kent "Deke" Slayton (March 1, 1924 – June 13, 1993) was an American Air Force pilot, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts. He went on to become NASA's first Chief of the Astronaut O ...

said if they wanted to use the name the Soviets commonly used, they would have to say Baikonur. Although it is likely the Soviets originally called it Baikonur to hide its location, the Baikonur Cosmodrome quickly surpassed the original village of Baikonur's fame and importance. In 1995, the city that was founded to the south of Töretam to support the cosmodrome, originally named Leninsk by the Soviets, was officially renamed to Baikonur (Baiqongyr in Kazakh), after the cosmodrome. The

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

tried to locate this launch site by systematically tracking over the major rail networks of the Soviet Union in

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

with U-2 spy planes. The site was discovered and photographed in 1957.

Francis Gary Powers Francis Gary Powers (August 17, 1929August 1, 1977) was an American pilot who served as a United States Air Force officer and a CIA employee. Powers is best known for his involvement in the 1960 U-2 incident, when he was shot down while fly ...

was scheduled to fly over it on his ill-fated mission in 1960.

References

External links

Map
{{authority control Populated places in Kazakhstan Populated places in Kyzylorda Region

History

References

Further reading

External links