Baikonur tour – Progress MS-23 launch

On May 24, the Progress MS-23 cargo spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station and delivered food, drinking water, fuel, tools, equipment, the Solar Sail nanosatellite and much more to the cosmonauts. Just three hours before docking our tourists were able to see with our own eyes how it took off from Baikonur Cosmodrome. We invite you to see the photo report about our trip to Baikonur in May 2023.

On the first day of our tour, early in the morning we watched the Soyuz rocket being taken to the launch pad, put upright, and being prepared for flight.

This preparation takes three days. Thus, we have some time to go around all the important places both in Baikonur and at the cosmodrome itself.

The International Space School, the Baikonur Cosmodrome Museum, historical monuments and parks, and the Cosmonauts Alley are all in the city.

The cosmodrome amazes with its scale. Both the size of structures and the length of space are impressive. Gagarin’s launch pad, the Proton rocket’s launch pad, the assembly and testing facility of the Zenit rocket, the museum of the Buran reusable spacecraft – these are just some of the sites that we visited at Baikonur. At each site, we were given a tour by the staff and specialists of that facility.
And so that evening came, the evening of the main event. Hundreds of people gathered at the observation point and strained to see the outline of the rocket which was about to lift off. At the appointed time we heard a growing roar from pad 31, then a flash occurred, clouds of smoke rose, a sound wave reached us, and a fireball began to rise into the sky, brighter than even the Sun. A live broadcast of the radio conversations from the flight control center was transmitted to the observation point, and we were excitedly counting down the 528 seconds when the ship was supposed to reach orbit. Finally, through the loudspeakers we heard: “Thrusters of the third stage powered off confirmed, separation is confirmed, Progress MS-23 transport spacecraft was placed into orbit as the artificial Earth satellite. The report is over.” Emotions run high, people applaud, rejoice, congratulate each other! It was unforgettable!

So, the launch by Russian specialists was a success, work on the orbit continues, and so will the trips to Baikonur. We invite you to take part in our August tour to see the launch of Progress MS-24 transport spacecraft. By the way, it is already at Baikonur, getting ready to go to the ISS.