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{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}

{{Infobox launch pad
|name = Gagarin's Start
|image=Soyuz TMA-3 launch.jpg
|imsize=200
|caption=[[Soyuz TMA-3]] is launched from Gagarin's Start
|site = [[Baikonur Cosmodrome]]
|location = {{coord|45.920278|N|63.342222|E}}
|operator = [[Soviet space program]], [[Russian Space Agency]]
|tlaunches = TBC
|inclination = 49° – 99°
|pads = 1
|short = LC-1/5
|paddetails = {{Infobox launch pad/pad
|status = Active
|first = [[R-7 Semyorka|R-7]], 15 May 1957
|last = [[Progress MS-05]], {{nowrap|22 February 2017}}
|rockets = [[R-7 Semyorka|R-7]]<br />[[Vostok (rocket)|Vostok]]<br />[[Voskhod (rocket)|Voskhod]]<br /> [[Molniya (rocket)|Molniya]]<br /> [[Soyuz (rocket family)|Soyuz]] (active)}}
}}

'''Gagarin's Start'''<ref>"As Suffredini spoke, a Soyuz TMA-5 spacecraft was being hoisted onto Russia's Baikonur launch pad, named "Gagarin's Start" after the first man in space. ", http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-10/13/content_381791.htm , [[China Daily]], 2004-10-13 on [[Soyuz TMA-5]] launch</ref> ({{lang-ru|Гагаринский старт}}, ''Gagarinskij start'') is a launch site at [[Baikonur Cosmodrome]] in [[Kazakhstan]], used for the [[Soviet space program]] and now managed by [[Roscosmos State Corporation]].

==Overview==
The launchpad for the world's first human spaceflight made by [[Yuri Gagarin]] on [[Vostok 1]] in 1961, the site was referred to as '''Site No.1''' ({{lang|ru|Площадка №1}}, ''Ploshchadka No. 1'') as the first one of its kind. It is also sometimes referred to as ''NIIP-5 LC1'', ''Baikonur LC1'' or ''GIK-5 LC1''.

On 17 March 1954 the [[Council of Ministers (Soviet Union)|Council of Ministers]] ordered several ministries to select a site for a [[proving ground]] to test the [[R-7 rocket]] by 1 January 1955. A special [[reconnaissance]] commission considered several possible geographic regions and selected [[Tyuratam]] in the [[Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic|Kazakh SSR]]. This selection was approved on 12 February 1955 by the Council of Ministers, with a completion of construction targeted for 1958.<ref name="RSWB">[http://www.russianspaceweb.com/baikonur_origin.html Origin of the test range in Tyuratam] at Russianspaceweb.com</ref> Work on the construction of Site No.1 began on 20 July 1955 by military engineers. Day and night more than 60 powerful trucks worked at the site; {{convert|15000|m3|cuyd}} of earth were excavated and removed per day, with the total volume estimated to be {{convert|750000|m3|cuyd}}. During winter explosives were widely utilized. By the end of October 1956 all primary building and installation of infrastructure for R-7 tests was completed. The Installation and Testing Building ({{lang|ru|Монтажно-испытательный корпус}}, ''Montazhno-ispytatel'nyj korpus'') named "Site No.2" was built and a special railway completed from there to Site No.1 where the launch pad for the rocket was located.<ref name="NKA">{{ru icon}} [http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/content/numbers/237/36.shtml Creation and Launch of the First Earth's Satellite] by V.Poroshkov {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051029143025/http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/content/numbers/237/36.shtml |date=29 October 2005 }}</ref> By April 1957 all remaining work was completed and the site was ready for launches.

The R-7 missile made its maiden voyage from LC-1 on May 15, 1957. On 4 October 1957 the pad was used to launch the world's first artificial satellite, [[Sputnik 1]]. Manned spaceflights launched from the site include [[Yuri Gagarin]]'s flight, [[Valentina Tereshkova]]'s flight, and numerous other [[human spaceflight]] missions, including all [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] and [[Russia]]n [[List of spacecraft and crews that visited Mir|manned spaceflights to Mir]]. The pad was also used to launch [[Luna program]] spacecraft, [[Mars probe program]] spacecraft, [[Venera program]] spacecraft, many [[Cosmos (satellite)|Cosmos satellites]] and others.<ref name="RSW">[http://www.astronautix.com/sites/baiurlc1.htm Baikonur LC1]</ref> From 1957 through 1966 the site hosted ready-to-launch strategic nuclear ICBMs in addition to spacecraft launches;<ref name="RSW"/> by the 2000s there were more than 400 launches from the site.<ref>[http://www.russianspaceweb.com/baikonur_r7_1.html Gagarin's pad]</ref> The 500th launch from this site was of [[Soyuz TMA-18M]] on 2 September 2015.

In 1961, the growing launch schedule of the Soviet space program resulted in the opening of a sister pad at Baikonur, [[LC-31/6]]. LC-1 has been the primary facility for manned launches, with occasional Soyuz flights from LC-31/6.

LC-1 was damaged several times by booster explosions during the early years. As of 2016, the most recent accident to occur on or around the pad was the attempted launch of [[Soyuz T-10-1]] in September 1983 ended disastrously when the booster caught fire during prelaunch preparations and exploded, causing severe damage that left LC-1 inoperable for almost a year.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Soyuz TMA-16 Lifts Off.jpg|[[Soyuz TMA-16]] launches from the Gagarin's Start on September 30, 2009, on its way to the [[International Space Station]].
Image:Baikonur Cosmodrome Soyuz launch pad.jpg|[[Sunrise]] at the launch pad prior to the rollout of [[Soyuz TMA-13]], October 10, 2008.
File:Progress M-13M rocket launches from Gagarin's Start.jpg|[[Progress M-13M]] launches on October 30, 2011.
File:Soyuz expedition 19 launch pad.jpg|The flame trench for Gagarin's Start
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 31]]
*[[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14]], the equivalent for the United States' [[Project Mercury|first manned spaceflights]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* J. K. Golovanov, M., "Korolev: Facts and myths", [[Nauka (publisher)|Nauka]], 1994, ISBN 5-02-000822-2;
* [http://epizodsspace.airbase.ru/bibl/chertok/kniga-1/01.html "Rockets and people"] – [[Boris Chertok|B. E. Chertok]], M: "mechanical engineering", 1999. ISBN 5-217-02942-0 {{ref-ru}};
* «A breakthrough in space» - Konstantin Vasilyevich Gerchik, M: LLC "Veles", 1994, - ISBN 5-87955-001-X;
* "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;
* "Look back and look ahead. Notes of a military engineer" - Rjazhsky A. A., 2004, SC. first, the publishing house of the "Heroes of the Fatherland" ISBN 5-91017-018-X.
* "Rocket and space feat Baikonur" - Vladimir Порошков, the "Patriot" publishers 2007. ISBN 5-7030-0969-3
* "Unknown Baikonur" - edited by B. I. Posysaeva, M.: "globe", 2001. ISBN 5-8155-0051-8
* "Bank of the Universe" - edited by Boltenko A. C., [[Kiev]], 2014., publishing house "Phoenix", ISBN 978-966-136-169-9

{{coord|45|55|13|N|63|20|32|E|display=title}}

{{Baikonur Cosmodrome launch sites}}
{{R-7 rockets}}

[[Category:Baikonur Cosmodrome]]
[[Category:Yuri Gagarin|Start]]

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