Museum of Baikonur Cosmodrome History, Kyzylorda Province, Kazakhstan
4.5 (56 reviews) Spent 1-2 hours Ranking #1 in Baikonur Speciality Museums
This is the real cosmodrome experience
You can only go on a pre-booked, authorised tour and it is expensive but you actually tour the real cosmodrome and can go to a real launch site. Security is high so you are vetted in advance and must take your passport to prove your identity. Get your timing right and you may even see a launch, we didn't but the whole complex is so interesting anyway. Yes you are carefully escorted and there are places you cannot photo but we were taken close to a launch pad and could even stand on the premarked footprints where cosmonauts stand before going aboard. We were allowed in one of the now disused control centres where you could 'play' with the controls. Being on an arranged tour we had a modest lunch provided before exploring the exhibits in the main building. A small shop allows you to buy a space souvenir if you wish but you need roubles as this is a Russian enclave in Kazakhstan. A very different experience and one we thoroughly enjoyed.
Address
Pionerskaya St., 4 Palace of Culture - 3rd Floor, Baikonur 468320 Kazakhstan
Mobile
Website
http://www.museum-baikonur.ru/
Current local date and time now
Friday, May 10, 2024, 10:11
User Ratings
4.5 based on (56 reviews)
Reviews
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5FOL-1003 5:00 PM Apr 4, 2013
Museum has a fantastic guide, Galina, she speaks excellent English...
Highly recommended. We had a 1.5h tour with Galina, who is quite experienced with visitors from the US. Its impressive, Russia was far ahead of US in the 60ies. it all got lost in Sowjet breakup times.
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4Ralph_MB 5:00 PM Oct 29, 2012
Excellent Tour - Russian Space Program & Kazakh History
This is a small museum located in the town of Baikonur which is a good compliment to the museum located out on the base. This museum is open to the public and gives a good history of the town, the base, and the military and civil space programs. In addition they have a display on Kazakh history and culture, something we did not find anywhere else. We had English speaking guides from the museum that made this a really worthwhile visit. I do not think that it would have been a good visit without the English speaking guides. They give a history of how the base and the town were built and answered questions on Kazakh life and history. Even though the museum inside the Cosmodrome covers a lot of the same history, it is worthwhile to visit both.
