Editing Baikonur (section)

==History==
{{Quote box
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| title = Historical affiliations
| quote = {{flag|Soviet Union}}1955–1991<br>
∟ [[File:Flag of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (1953–1991); Flag of Kazakhstan (1991–1992).svg|25px]] [[Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic|Kazakh SSR]]<br>
{{flag|Kazakhstan}} 1991–present<br>
∟ {{flagicon|Russia}} [[Russian Federation]] lease 1991–2050
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The original [[Baikonur (Karagandy Region)|Baikonur]] (Kazakh for "wealthy brown", i.e. "fertile land with many herbs") is a [[mining]] town 320 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 = https://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]]. 

Due to the city's military and scientific significance, it was [[closed city|closed off]] by Soviet authorities. It did not appear on maps available to the general public during the Soviet period prior to [[perestroika]].

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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Baikonur Cosmodrome - Tyuratam Missile Range. History. Mug and T-shirt |url=http://www.astronauticsnow.com/tt/index.html |access-date=2023-09-02 |website=www.astronauticsnow.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-02-13 |title=The U-2 Program: A Russian Officer Remembers — Central Intelligence Agency |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/winter98_99/art02.html |access-date=2023-09-02 |archive-date=2008-02-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080213072059/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/winter98_99/art02.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The town has unique ties with space, and hence the history of the rocket building and space binds all the sights in the area and the cosmodrome. However, there are only a few exceptions: old locomotive, an Orthodox Church and a new mosque.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Baikonur|url=https://samarkandtours.com/kazakhstan/baikonur/|url-status=dead|access-date=April 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414205303/https://samarkandtours.com/kazakhstan/baikonur/ |archive-date=2021-04-14 }}</ref>

The city administratively belongs to the [[Odintsovsky District]] of [[Moscow Oblast]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=odi_love |title=Знаете что связывает космодром Байконур и Одинцовский район? |url=https://odi-city.livejournal.com/37621.html |website=LiveJournal |access-date=22 February 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Obukhov |first1=Aleksei |title=Самым безопасным городом Подмосковья оказался Байконур в Казахстане |url=https://www.mk.ru/social/2016/12/20/samym-bezopasnym-gorodom-podmoskovya-okazalsya-baykonur-v-kazakhstane.html |website=MKRU |date=20 December 2016 |access-date=22 February 2023}}</ref>