At the Edge of Space - From Moscow to Baikonur

[Nantais]

Visiting the abandoned launch control centrer of the Buran space shuttle.

111-


112- An overall view of the Buran launch facilities :


113-


114-


115- We couldn't take pics of the exterior of the building where the launch control center was located. I assume it was more because it was extremely dilapidated than because it was top secret or anything like that. Here is a pic I managed to take before a guard told me to stop taking pics :


116- The launch control center was located in some sort of giant bunker. We had to walk a long and dark corridor to reach it. At some point, there was this mural painting which seemed out of place :


117- The control center :


118-


119-


120-


121-


122-


123-


124-

[xzmattzx]

Nice pictures so far!

If you're from France, why do you go to Russia so much?

[cityskyscrapers]

What a special place. Curious about the next episode.

[Nantais]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

Nice pictures so far!

If you're from France, why do you go to Russia so much?

Russia is a fascinating country. It's so vast, it feels like a whole different world, and it's full of places that feel like being the remotest on Earth, and I love that idea. So it excites my imagination like few other places in the world.

Also, I like the feeling of a (at first) exotic place becoming more and more familiar, that's why I keep coming back to places that I've enjoyed, be it Russia or New York.

[Nantais]

Some views of the city of Baikonur and its surroundings :

125- Gagarin statue :


126- A full-scale model of a Soyuz rocket as a monument :


127-


128-


129-


130-


131-


132-


133-


134-


135- The Syr Daria river :


136-


137-

[Nantais]

Visiting a space-themed highschool in Baikonur :

138-


139- Portraits of Putin and Nazarbayev (president of Kazakhstan) in the entrance lobby :


140- In this school, students have rocket modelling classes :


141- Some of the pretty cool rockets built by the students. They are supposed to fly :


142-


143-


144- Hallways are full of space-themed mural paintings as well as full-scale mockups :


145-


146-


147-


148- The chemistry classroom :


149- In the biology classroom they had some weird stuff, like busts of the different human "races" :


150- The art classroom :


151-


152- Another room full of rocket and plane models :


153-

[Nantais]

Attending the pre-flight press conference at the Cosmonaut hotel where crew members stay before the launch of any Soyuz mission.

154- The hotel entrance is rather bland :


155- Next to the hotel, there is the Cosmonauts alley where every astronaut/cosmonaut departing from Baikonur Cosmodrome has to plant a tree. It's like a tradition :


156- The Gagarin's tree :


157- Some tress have been planted a lot more recently like the one of French spationaut Thomas Pesquet who stayed in the ISS in 2016-2017 :


158- The conference room. Astronauts have to stay behind a glass because before the flight they are in quarantine :


159- The crew members of the Soyuz MS-05 mission and their backup crew. From left to right : Paolo Nespoli (Italian, ESA), Randy Bresnik (American, NASA), Sergey Ryazansky (Russian, Roscosmos), Alexander Misurkin (Russian, Roscosmos), Mark Vande Hei (American, NASA) and Norishige Kanai (Japanese, JAXA).


160-


161-



A video I edited from the clips I shot during the press conference. English, Russian and Italian were spoken during the conference which lasted for about one hour :

• Video Link

[williamphilapa]

Nice thread - thanks for sharing/posting.

[Nantais]

You're welcome !



There is a semi-abandoned amusement park just right next to downtown Baikonur. Some pics :

162-


163-


164-


165-


166-


167-


168-


169-


170-


171-


172-


173-


174-


175-


176-

[Nantais]

Attending the launch of Soyuz MS-05 at dusk.


177- A few hours before the launch, the crew members, after having put on their astronaut suit, come out to go to the launch pad.


178-


179-


180-


181-


182-


183-


184-


185-

[Nantais]

A video I made of the launch :

• Video Link