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{{Refimprove|date=December 2009}}
{{Infobox settlement
|official_name = Baikonur
|native_name = Байқоңыр<br />Байконур
|motto =
|image_skyline = Baikonuriss.jpg
|image_caption = An aerial view of Baikonur
|image_flag = Флаг_города_Байконур.svg
|image_seal = Baikonur seal.png
|image_map =
|map_caption =
|pushpin_map = Kazakhstan
|pushpin_label_position = bottom
|pushpin_mapsize = 280
|pushpin_map_caption = Location in Kazakhstan
|subdivision_type = [[Countries of the world|Country]]
|subdivision_type1 = [[Regions of Kazakhstan|City]]
|subdivision_type2 =
|subdivision_name = [[Kazakhstan]]<br />
[[Russia]] - rented and administrated
|subdivision_name1 =
|subdivision_name2 =
|established_title =
|established_date =
|established_title2 = Founded
|established_date2 = 1955
|established_title3 = Incorporated ([[city]])
|established_date3 = 1966
|government_type =
|leader_title =
|leader_name =
|area_total_km2 = 57
|population_as_of = 2009
|population_footnotes = <ref name="kz2009Census"/>
|population_total = 36175
|population_urban =
|population_metro =
|population_density_km2= auto
|timezone = [[UTC+6]]
|utc_offset = +6
|timezone_DST =
|utc_offset_DST =
|coordinates = {{coord|45|37|0|N|63|19|0|E|region:KZ|display=inline,title}}
|elevation_m = 100
|elevation_footnotes =
|postal_code_type =[[Postal code]]
|postal_code = 710501
|area_code = +7 73622
|registration_plate = N
|website = {{URL|http://www.baikonuradm.ru/index.htm}}
|footnotes =
}}

'''Baikonur''' ({{lang-kk|'''Байқоңыр''', ''Bayqoñır''}}; {{lang-ru|'''Байконур''', ''Baykonur''}}), formerly known as '''Leninsk''' (also, see [[Tyuratam]]), is a [[city of federal subject significance|city of republic significance]] in [[Kazakhstan]] on the right bank of the [[Syr Darya]] river, rented and administered by the [[Russian Federation]]. It was constructed to service the [[Baikonur Cosmodrome]] and was officially renamed Baikonur by Russian president [[Boris Yeltsin]] on December 20, 1995. During the Soviet period, it was sometimes referred to as Zvezdograd (Star City).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Barensky|first1=C. Lardier, Stefan|title=The Soyuz launch vehicle the two lives of an engineering triumph|date=2013|publisher=Springer|location=New York|isbn=146145459X|page=189|url=http://books.google.com.ua/books?id=CWRIAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA189#v=onepage&q&f=false}}</ref>

In 2009, the population of Baikonur was {{Kz-census2009|36,175|punct=,}} while in 1999, it was {{Kz-census1999|28,776|punct=.}}

The rented area is an ellipse measuring {{Convert|90|km}} east to west by {{Convert|85|km|abbr=on}} north to south, with the cosmodrome situated at the area's centre.

==History==
The original Baikonur (Kazakh for "wealthy brown", i.e. "fertile land with many herbs") is a [[mining]] town a few hundred kilometres northeast of the present location, near [[Dzhezkazgan]] in Kazakhstan's [[Karagandy Region]]. Starting with [[Vostok 1]] in April 1961, the launch site was given this name to cause confusion and keep the location secret. (The original Baikonur's residents took advantage of the confusion by ordering and receiving many scarce materials before government officials discovered the deception.)<ref name=siddiqi2000>{{cite book | last = Siddiqi | first = Asif A. | url = http://history.nasa.gov/printFriendly/series95.html | title = Challenge To Apollo: The Soviet Union and the Space Race, 1945-1974 | pages=284 | publisher = [[NASA]]}}</ref> Baikonur's railway station predates the base and retains the old name of [[Tyuratam]]. This was the original Soviet railway station (railhead) on the [[Trans-Aral Railway|Moscow to Tashkent Railway]] that the Cosmodrome was initially named after.

The fortunes of the city have varied according to those of the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] or [[Russia]]n space program and its [[Baikonur Cosmodrome]]. Foreign visitors will need pre-approval from the Russian authorities to visit both the town of Baikonur itself and the Cosmodrome. Note that said approval is completely separate from just having a Russian Visa; Generally speaking, approval to visit Baikonur is best organised via third-party tourism operators.{{citation needed|date=April 2017}}

The Soviet government established the Nauchno-Issledovatel'skii Ispytatel'nyi Poligon N.5 (NIIIP-5), or Scientific-Research Test Range N.5 by its decree of 12 February 1955. The [[Lockheed U-2|U-2]] high-altitude [[surveillance aircraft|reconnaissance plane]] found and photographed the Tyuratam missile test range (cosmodrome Baikonur) for the first time on 5 August 1957. See right for a composite satellite image of the early Tyuratam launch complex, the cosmodrome (30 May 1962).{{citation needed|date=April 2017}}

==Gallery==
<gallery class="center" widths="275px">
file:Baikonur CIA U-2.gif|U-2 Photograph of R-7 Launch Pad in Tyura-Tam
file:Baikonur from top 2002.jpg|Baikonur and Syr Darya River
file:Baykonur city entry 2008.jpg|Entrance to the city
file:Kazakh boy with a small camel. Baikonur-city, march 2007.JPG|Kazakh boy wearing a national costume at the celebration of Nauryz event in Baikonur with a camel
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[List of closed cities]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* "Testing of rocket and space technology - the business of my life" Events and facts - [[Arkady Ostashev|A.I. Ostashev]], [[Korolyov, Moscow Oblast|Korolyov]], 2001.[http://cosmosravelin.narod.ru/r-space/bibliografia.html];
* "Baikonur. Korolev. Yangel." - M. I. Kuznetsk, [[Voronezh]]: IPF "Voronezh", 1997, ISBN 5-89981-117-X;
* "Unknown Baikonur" - edited by B. I. Posysaeva, M.: "globe", 2001. ISBN 5-8155-0051-8
* "Rocket and space feat Baikonur" - Vladimir Порошков, the "Patriot" publishers 2007. ISBN 5-7030-0969-3
* [[Arkady Ostashev|A.I. Ostashev]], ''Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov - The Genius of the 20th Century'' — 2010 M. of Public Educational Institution of Higher Professional Training MGUL ISBN 978-5-8135-0510-2.
* "Bank of the Universe" - edited by Boltenko A. C., [[Kiev]], 2014., publishing house "Phoenix", ISBN 978-966-136-169-9

==External links==
{{commons|Baikonur}}
* [http://www.russianspaceweb.com/baikonur_town.html RussianSpaceWeb.com on Baikonur town]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110929231112/http://www.rollnzoom.com/places/matish/173/baikonur_cosmodrome.htm Baikonur cosmodrome placemark]
* [http://www.bestrussiantour.com/space/tour_baikonur Launch of the manned spacecraft Soyuz from the Baikonur Cosmodrome]
* {{Wikivoyage-inline|Baikonur}}

{{Regions of Kazakhstan}}
{{Cities of Kazakhstan}}
{{Military testing centers in Kazakhstan}}

[[Category:Populated places established in 1955]]
[[Category:Populated places in Kyzylorda Region]]
[[Category:Closed cities]]

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