Editing Plesetsk Cosmodrome (section)

=== Site 43 (Active – Soyuz) ===
{{Main|Plesetsk Cosmodrome Site 43}}
'''Site 43''', also known as '''SK-3''' and '''SK-4''', is a [[launch complex]] at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in [[Russia]]. It consists of a two pads, Sites 43/3 and 43/4, and has been used by [[R-7 (rocket family)|R-7]] derived rockets since the early 1960s.

The site was originally built for use by [[R-7A Semyorka]] missiles. The first launch to use the complex was an R-7A test on 21 December 1965, from Site 43/3. The first launch from 43/4 followed on 25 July 1967.

After its retirement from service as a missile base, it was converted for use as a space launch complex. The first orbital launch was of a [[Voskhod (rocket)|Voskhod]] rocket with [[Kosmos 313]] on 3 December 1969.

Both pads were damaged by explosions in the 1980s. At 16:01 UTC on 18 March 1980, 48 people [[1980 Plesetsk launch pad disaster|were killed]] when a [[Vostok-2M]] exploded during fueling operations at Pad 4. The disaster injured dozens more, while damaging the pad so severely that it was not used again until 1984. On 18 June 1987, a [[Soyuz-U]] rocket exploded at liftoff on Pad 3.<ref>{{cite web |last=Wade |first=Mark |title=Plesetsk |url=http://www.astronautix.com/p/plesetsk.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820165221/http://www.astronautix.com/p/plesetsk.html |archive-date=August 20, 2016 |access-date=24 October 2017 |publisher=[[Encyclopedia Astronautica]]}}</ref> Both were rebuilt, and are in service as of 2009.