I’ve just landed from Astana in the remote town of Kyzyl-Orda, somewhere in the steppe of central-south Kazakhstan. You might look at a map and think this is the middle of nowhere, and it is – but that’s exactly why the Soviets chose this area to build their Cosmodrome and center of their space program at the start of the Cold War. This Cosmodrome at Baikonur (called Leninsk and sometimes Zvezdograd “Star City” in the Soviet days) is actually still in use today, and is in fact one of three classed ‘non-military’ spaceports in the Russian Federation. Although it sits in what is current-day Kazakhstan, at the time it was the Kazakh SSR and part of the Soviet Union. Russia now leases the area from Kazakhstan for US$115m/ year, negotiated thru 2050, but they’re not very happy paying this price. And so, Putin is building another Cosmodrome at Vostochny to lessen their dependence on Baikonur and Kazakhstan – from what I hear, it’s nearly ready.
Kyzyl-Orda has a small airport whose baggage claim is actually just the main ‘arrivals hall’ – everybody exits the aircraft, waits in the ‘arrivals hall’ with their families and whoever comes to pick them up, and Kyzyl-Orda airport employees just bring luggage into the room. As this is all happening and people jockey to find their luggage before some imaginary thief does, I look around the small room that we all stand in. I’ve basically been alone now for about a week since landing in Novosibirsk and I’m actually kind of looking forward to meeting the people that make up my group for this next 4 days of my life. I’d guess about 1 to 2/5 of the plane are tourists for the launch. There are several small clusters of foreigners but I can’t tell who belongs with whom yet. Everybody kind of seems to be alone and not very social, so there isn’t a lot of conversation or accent identification to work with. The one thing I do see is – lots of heavy duty camera gear and serious faces.
Eventually I find my Russian guide Ksenia who has flown from Moscow, and a small group has formed around her. I count us as we walk out to the parking lot for the drive to Baikonur town – looks like 12 people. I immediately start guessing who the foreigners are and who the Russians are, and it seems to be more Russian than foreign right now. I attribute to this the main reason for our groups’ apparent early antisocial-ness. This is our group as I see them:
- First guy I see is Russian for sure. He stands out because he looks like he’s dressing as a fighter pilot for Halloween with fatigues and a leather jacket both covered in mission and all sorts of aviation patches. Not an actual fighter pilot because he definitely doesn’t look like one. Has camera.
- Second guy is with the MiG pilot, he looks pretty normal but also obviously Russian. Maybe I’ll go into what makes somebody look Russian later. Also has camera.
- Third guy seems to be in this group of Russian men. All three look around 40-45, but this guy has some white hair (maybe he’s more like 50, who knows), and he’s overweight. Has camera.
- A very large man, Russian.
- And his 10-yr old son who looks scared of everybody.
- A guy who doesn’t look so Russian yet, but has a Russian-ish beard and some very serious looking eyes. Looks kind in a way. 70% probably Russian and if he’s not Russian, he’s German. I’d guess 35-40.
- His buddy who doesn’t look Russian at all but is speaking Russian. He is short haired, clean cut, glasses that he keeps pushing up, and I think he kind of stands with his toes pointed inwards. Same age. Is he gay?
- A younger looking short-haired blond guy with glasses. Seems really quiet but looks very serious, so also Russian. Looks like he has camera gear in one of those structured bags. I’m guessing early 30s.
- A woman with sharply lined black eyeliner, precise red lipstick, and wearing about (honestly) what looks like to me, like 6 layers including a yarn hat with two of those balls floating around the top like horns. I guess she’s European of some sort, could be Russian. 40-45. Lots of camera gear.
- The woman is with a man, taller than the others and in a short sleeved polo shirt. After hearing him speak it’s clear he’s American. 45-50. Camera gear.
- A man maybe around 45-50, kind of mixed Mediterranean complexion? Doesn’t talk to anybody. Polo shirt (which more often than not is the tell of an American man). And what’s turned into the standard for the average tourist here – glasses, camera gear.
- Me.
On the bus we are given a few vital documents. First, our full itinerary for the next 3 days through the launch at midnight Wednesday. I see our time is filled with trips to different sites around the Cosmodrome and a few excursions around Baikonur town itself such as museums, a city tour, etc. And of course the main launch events as they unfold over the next 3 days. Second, we get a pamphlet with details of the crew members. And lastly (strangely most exciting to me) a map of Baikonur town and also of the Cosmodrome itself. The Cosmodrome map is a bit hard to decipher as it mainly just consists of points labelled with ambiguous numbers for Sites. These are no high-tech maps. We will be allowed to roam around Baikonur city in our spare time – though it’s a closed city to enter, once inside the city you can move freely. However, rules are different inside the Cosmodrome, where we have to wear our permits (separate to permission for the town) on a tag around our neck, and we will also be accompanied by a Roscosmos representative at all time. Ours is named Tatiana and she is severe looking.
Three hours in a vehicle with these 11 other tourists, plus Ksenia and Tatiana. Ksenia told me that 3 more tourists are meeting us in Baikonur town. Nobody has even engaged me yet. This will be fun…
The Little Rover 