New Russian Cosmodrome - Vostochniy

Zhukovsky international airport is 4.6km and Ulyanovsk is 5km of reinforced concrete for heavy planes...

you wouldn't be trying to land spaceplanes at Zhukovsky though - far too close to a big urban area
but yeah Ulyanovsk would be suitable

although I think they would probably prefer to put a strip in at Kapustin Yar as the Western landing strip ?
I'd be thinking that way
all of those US bases are all at similar latitudes closer to the equator
Kapustin Yar is roughly the same latitude as Vostochny too

guess I will be reading this stuff next week or so
I have that huge book on the Buran project - I haven't read much of it yet

https://www.amazon.com/Energiya-Buran-Soviet-Shuttle-Springer-Praxis/dp/0387698485

it has chapters on all the spaceplanes not just Buran
(I remember going inside a Buran shuttle - think it was the Sydney Olympics - it was on display
was around same size as a DC-9 - but had a really enormous cargo bay - as it didn't have rocket engines in the back like the US Shuttle)
so I've had a lingering interest in spaceplanes all these years ... why I bought the book)

( I guess that Krylo-SV "returning stage" would need a decent sized runway too - but then it can deploy a wing better suited to subsonic flight ? )

this is the most recent image I've seen of a proposed Russian spaceplane design

https://www.flightglobal.com/russia-tests-reusable-spaceplane-design/113064.article

the other question that comes to mind ..... if they start building a pad for the Soyuz-5 at Vostochny
with twice the lifting capacity of the Soyuz ..... we may see an even bigger spaceplane in the future
the Soyuz based one may well be the first round ...

time to open that book ...

article says includes facility for cosmonauts

16th floor for the Angara service tower in Vostochny

https://kosmosnews.fr/2022/06/17/16eme-etage-pour-la-tour-de-service-angara-a-vostochny/

At the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Amur region, under the careful supervision of TsENKI specialists, the 16th level of the Service Tower for Angara launchers is being installed.

In total, 17 levels of the tower will be built, which has already become a true symbol of the new launch complex.

The prototype of the service tower in Vostochny is a similar unit to the Plesetsk cosmodrome, however, the tower takes into account the needs of the further development of the Angara and offers the opportunity to prepare for the launch of the configuration of the Angara A5 / A5M rockets with a next-generation Manned Spacecraft Orel.

Two additional parts are installed on the maintenance truss of the modified tower: a finishing compartment and a vestibule. They form the access cabin of cosmoonauts. The crew members, after taking the elevator to the 11th level of the tower, cross the covered gallery to the boarding cabin and take their place in the ship. After that, the mechanisms remove the landing cabin and the sectional cover that protects the craft at all stages of launch preparation.

Currently, the installation of the metal structures of the tower is being completed at the cosmodrome and preparations are underway for the assembly of the first maintenance farm.

ALSO .... this is a cool VIDEO

Rogozin on his Telegram channel talks of the huge underground city being created ....
he has made a pretty cool video on Youtube ....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLOG39DEZ2I

I often and proudly show how the second launch complex , the Angara at the Vostochny Cosmodrome of Amur, is growing day by day, from which we will launch our modular rockets of the same name with new reusable manned spacecraft "Eagle" and "Orlyonok", modules of the new "Russian Orbital Service Station", research lunar observatories and satellites of the Orbital Grouping "Sphere".

But I have never shown a giant underground city under this launch complex and service tunnels more than 9 km long.

Today I will show one of these tunnels, which connects the Command Post and the Angara Launch Pad.

At the end of this year, we will complete the construction of this entire giant launch, lay down the communications of the control system and begin testing the technological engineering part of the new launch complex of the cosmodrome, preparing it for the launch of the launch vehicle.

I invite you to walk with me through the tunnel and the communications wiring chambers.

BUT WAIT - THERE'S MORE ....

he has chosen the first satellite to launch from the new pad too ..
Earth observation stereoscopic photography system -
( probably using Belarus lenses I suspect to jam it up the EU )

A payload has been determined for the first launch in December next year of the Angara A.1.2 light launch vehicle from the new launch complex of the Vostochny Cosmodrome. This will be the Aist-2T spacecraft.

The creation of a space complex for remote sensing stereoscopic surveying consisting of two small spacecraft "Stork-2T" began in December 2019. The created space complex "Stork" is able to obtain information data for the formation of stereoscopic images and the creation of digital terrain models (DMM), as well as monitoring emergency situations.

The use of QC "Stork" will provide information data for the formation of stereoscopic images (with a pixel projection of 1.2 m in panchromatic survey mode and a capture strip of 32 km) for the formation of stereoscopic images and the creation of digital models of the terrain, as well as monitoring emergency situations. At the same time, the estimated daily productivity of the complex is 2 million km² (in the survey mode) and 800 thousand km² (in stereo photography).

https://t.me/ruscosmodrom/379?single

On the territory of the Vostochny cosmodrome, construction work continues on objects of the second stage. At the moment, the active construction of the Airport complex is underway. The runway has already been completed, its length is more than 3 km. In the future, it is planned to complete another 1 km, which will allow to receive all types of aircraft.

The construction of a new missile system for launch vehicles of the Angara family is underway. The cable-filling tower, 66 meters high, has already been assembled, and process equipment is currently being installed. Reinforcement and concrete laying at the “0” mark is also now being carried out.

At the same time, work is underway to build a command post, a gas outlet, underground networks and communications, and improve the premises of an administrative building, a checkpoint and other facilities.

Construction and installation works of the launch complex of the Angara spacecraft and the airport complex are being carried out on schedule.

You can already see the airport runway on Google Maps.


And this is the launch pad for Angara.

Vostochny Cosmodrome: ahead of the third phase

FULL ARTICLE: https://topcor-ru.translate.goog/34552-kosmodrom-vostochnyj-vperedi-tretja-ochered.html?utm_source=finobzor.ru&_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en

Progress shots, April 2023
Credit to owais.usmani who posted these on the NASA SpaceFlight forum

Very nice shot of Kondor FKA No1 on the pad at Vostochny. Compare the comprehensive facilites at Vostochny with the bare-bones (and now trashed) pad at SpaceX Boca Chica.

14.02.2024
Vostochny Cosmodrome airport receives first Roscosmos cargo plane

The first cargo plane of the Roscosmos State Corporation — Il-76MDK with space cargo landed on the airstrip of the Vostochny Cosmodrome airport complex under construction.

Specialists of the Vostochny Space Center of the Center for the Operation of Ground-based Space Infrastructure (part of Roscosmos) unloaded containers and delivered them by road to the technical complex of the cosmodrome.

https://www.roscosmos.ru/40242/

It seems the first components for building manned launches capability on the Angara launch pad have been delivered. This seems like a service elevator.

Launch of 53 satellites from Vostochny called record-breaking

VOSTOCHNY COSMODROME /Amur Region/, November 5. / TASS/. The Fregat booster successfully launched 53 small satellites of Russian and foreign manufacture into their target orbits, launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome as secondary payloads, Roscosmos said in a statement.

"The accompanying payload, consisting of 49 Russian, Russian-Chinese, Russian-Zimbabwean and two Iranian small spacecraft, was delivered to the target orbits and separated from the Fregat upper stage, which was launched today by the Soyuz-2.1b rocket from Vostochny," the statement said.

According to Roscosmos, taking into account the Ionosfera-M No. 1 and No. 2 heliogeophysical satellites launched into orbit, the simultaneous launch of 51 Russian spacecraft became a record in the history of Russian cosmonautics.

The Soyuz-2.1b rocket launched from pad 1C of the Vostochny Cosmodrome at 02:18 Moscow time. It launched the Fregat booster block with two Ionosfera-M (the main payload) and 53 satellites into the reference orbit.

The private company Sputnix (part of Sitronics Group) confirmed to TASS the successful launch of 28 of their devices into target orbits - 24 satellites for monitoring SITRO-AIS shipping and four satellites of the Space-Pi scientific and educational project. "Right now, at the Sputnix flight control center in Moscow, our specialists are recording telemetry signals, systems are being calibrated, all satellites should be taken under control - this will indicate the success of the mission. The final results will be received in the next 24 hours," said the head of the company, Vladislav Ivanenko.

https://tass.ru/kosmos/22312581