New Russian Cosmodrome - Vostochniy

http://www.sdelanounas.ru/blogs/66035/

Vostochny is 95% finished and has reached the "launch minimum" threshold. Basically all of the infrastructure is ready and the
remaining 5% is mostly specialized equipment installation.

Motherload guys and gals!!!    

Fresh UAV aerial pics from construction site plus some cool usual material:

















Nice dude who made these awesome pics:












You can see one of two massive observation towers being constructed in the background




















Photos with descriptions here:
http://russos.livejournal.com/1232169.html

@Papadragon

Thk for the pic

Book. wrote:@Papadragon

Thk for the pic

You're welcome buddy!

Construction of town Tsiolkovsky next to Vostochniy spaceport:





















More pics and descriptions:
http://russos.livejournal.com/1235971.html

I didn't see this posted here, plans for manned Soyuz from Vostochny are being dropped completely,
with manned program from Vostochny now planned to only happen via Angara-5V (+PPTS), now scheduled for 2025.
Which begs the question, why bother finishing the Soyuz pad there?, if it will not achieve "independence from Kazakhstan"?
I guess it leaves the possibility to re-start the manned Soyuz program from Vostochny WHEN/IF NEEDED,
but honestly that is a very expensive contingency plan and Kazakhstan is hardly seeming to present a threat of non-cooperation...? /shrug
I'm sure everybody in Roscosmos/etc are just waiting for the day Vostochny is finally fully functional and they can forget this long drawn-out episode.

http://siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/n0372-blow-for-new-cosmodrome-as-officials-say-first-manned-launch-is-still-a-decade-away/

mutantsushi wrote:I didn't see this posted here, plans for manned Soyuz from Vostochny are being dropped completely,
with manned program from Vostochny now planned to only happen via Angara-5V (+PPTS), now scheduled for 2025.
Which begs the question, why bother finishing the Soyuz pad there?, if it will not achieve "independence from Kazakhstan"?
I guess it leaves the possibility to re-start the manned Soyuz program from Vostochny WHEN/IF NEEDED,
but honestly that is a very expensive contingency plan and Kazakhstan is hardly seeming to present a threat of non-cooperation...? /shrug
I'm sure everybody in Roscosmos/etc are just waiting for the day Vostochny is finally fully functional and they can forget this long drawn-out episode.

http://siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/n0372-blow-for-new-cosmodrome-as-officials-say-first-manned-launch-is-still-a-decade-away/

Soyuz will be go-to light cargo rocket for decades to come, hence the launch pad on Vostochniy (and in French Guiana and in China and most likely Brazil.....)

Angara and PTK-NP are superior to Soyuz system on all parameters. You can't use 50 years old ship infinitely. It took a total redesign for it to carry 3 crewmen instead of 2.

It is time for old girl to go to well earned retirement.

Vostochniy must be completed in order to achieve independence from Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan cannot be trusted, neither can any country that is not called Russia. It is mathematical axiom. Recent events proven it yet again.

PapaDragon wrote:

mutantsushi wrote:I didn't see this posted here, plans for manned Soyuz from Vostochny are being dropped completely,
with manned program from Vostochny now planned to only happen via Angara-5V (+PPTS), now scheduled for 2025.
Which begs the question, why bother finishing the Soyuz pad there?, if it will not achieve "independence from Kazakhstan"?
I guess it leaves the possibility to re-start the manned Soyuz program from Vostochny WHEN/IF NEEDED,
but honestly that is a very expensive contingency plan and Kazakhstan is hardly seeming to present a threat of non-cooperation...? /shrug
I'm sure everybody in Roscosmos/etc are just waiting for the day Vostochny is finally fully functional and they can forget this long drawn-out episode.

http://siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/n0372-blow-for-new-cosmodrome-as-officials-say-first-manned-launch-is-still-a-decade-away/

Soyuz will be go-to light cargo rocket for decades to come, hence the launch pad on Vostochniy (and in French Guiana and in China and most likely Brazil.....)

Angara and PTK-NP are superior to Soyuz system on all parameters. You can't use 50 years old ship infinitely. It took a total redesign for it to carry 3 crewmen instead of 2.

It is time for old girl to go to well earned retirement.

Vostochniy must be completed in order to achieve independence from Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan cannot be trusted, neither can any country that is not called Russia. It is mathematical axiom. Recent events proven it yet again.

Of all post soviet countries, Kazakhstan is far more reliable of a partner than any. They are the ones responsible for EEU, they are one of the founding members and also responsible for CSTO, etc. Kazakhstan is probably very much in line of creating a major power, without taking in the limelight.

Russia has to trust some countries, at least, at the end of the day.

If it trusts no-one, not even its closest allies, then how can it expect to be trusted by others?

It's the same as wih respect. If you want respect, then you must also give respect.

Contingency plans are good mind you. No harm in them. But unless they are cheap to keep on the backburner and can be occupied with secondary uses - it's best to leave most of them on paper, ready to be fundec only when neccessary.

Frankly, some Russian behaviour in relation to its neighbouring Eurasian Union states reeks of protectionism - at a time when they're all meant to be integrating into a common market, while its arms procurements border on paranoia, Russia seems to be carrying through 'import subsidisation' even against Belarus and its defence companies - yet this is an economy that it has to support, not reject.

PapaDragon wrote:

mutantsushi wrote:I didn't see this posted here, plans for manned Soyuz from Vostochny are being dropped completely,
with manned program from Vostochny now planned to only happen via Angara-5V (+PPTS), now scheduled for 2025.
Which begs the question, why bother finishing the Soyuz pad there?, if it will not achieve "independence from Kazakhstan"?
I guess it leaves the possibility to re-start the manned Soyuz program from Vostochny WHEN/IF NEEDED,
but honestly that is a very expensive contingency plan and Kazakhstan is hardly seeming to present a threat of non-cooperation...? /shrug
I'm sure everybody in Roscosmos/etc are just waiting for the day Vostochny is finally fully functional and they can forget this long drawn-out episode.

http://siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/n0372-blow-for-new-cosmodrome-as-officials-say-first-manned-launch-is-still-a-decade-away/

Soyuz will be go-to light cargo rocket for decades to come, hence the launch pad on Vostochniy (and in French Guiana and in China and most likely Brazil.....)

Angara and PTK-NP are superior to Soyuz system on all parameters. You can't use 50 years old ship infinitely. It took a total redesign for it to carry 3 crewmen instead of 2.

It is time for old girl to go to well earned retirement.

Vostochniy must be completed in order to achieve independence from Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan cannot be trusted, neither can any country that is not called Russia. It is mathematical axiom. Recent events proven it yet again.

Well I agree that Russia should take every step to end strategic dependency on any other nation, but to say that Kazahkstan cannot be trusted is a patently absurd claim, that is unwarranted and unsubstantiated:

President Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, not President Putin of the Russian Federation, is the mastermind behind the Eurasian Union and you could argue that Kazakhstan's Nomenklatura is on average more pro-Russian that Russia's Nomenklatura. Back in the early 90's Nazarbayev was trying his best to collect the pieces of the USSR puzzle and putting them back together again, take for example the Eurasian Union was in fact proposed by Nazarbayev in a speech back in 1994, meanwhile at the same time Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs were raping their respective countries' state-owned assets. Kazakhstan has reliably chosen to stick with Russia in the worst of times and the best of times, and resisted all the Pan-Turkic pressure of falling in to the orbit of Turkey in NATO's sphere of influence.

Sources are from all over the place...

Installation of launch pad light system is complete.

http://www.sdelanounas.ru/blogs/67101/

I see that official paint job for spaceport buildings is white/blue combo.
Excellent choice if I do say so myself!

that concrete flame pit looks way to oversized.
only reasoning would be they plan to launch heavier rockets , yet the size of that preparation building (and weather cocoon) is limiting.

Rmf wrote:that concrete flame pit looks way to oversized.
only reasoning would be they plan to launch heavier rockets , yet the size of that preparation building (and weather cocoon) is limiting.

Could be that they use same blueprint for all launchpads, saves money and time and, yes you are right, that way they can switch to heavier rockets down the road. Not that they are in the hurry, Angara will be getting it's own dedicated launchpad and Soyuz here will be in use for decades to come.

Buildings should not be too problematic,  main assembly facility is located on another site and is absolutely huge.

As for the tower, it is on rails so replacing it or using more than one would not be too difficult.

First Ever Launch Vehicle to Be Sent to Russia’s New Spaceport in Siberia

A space launch vehicle, the Soyuz-2, will be the first to be sent to Russia’s new Vostochny Cosmodrome in Siberia; it will leave the manufacturer on Sunday, according to Russia’s Vice Premier Dmitry Rogozin.

Russia's Deputy Prime Minister in charge of defense has confirmed that a space launch vehicle which will be the first to take off from Russia’s new launch pad in Siberia will be sent there on Sunday.

Dmitry Rogozin tweeted that on September 6 he will oversee the shipment of the spacecraft and in the evening he will cheer on the girls at the super-battle for the Russian Handball Super Cup.

The Soyuz-2 spacecraft will leave the facilities of the developing and manufacturing center TsSKB-Progress in the city of Samara in southeastern Russia and travel all the way to Vostochny Cosmodrome in Siberia.

The launch vehicle is scheduled to take off for the first time by the end of 2015. According to the schedule, construction work at the Cosmodrome is set to be completed by November 30.

The Vostochny Space Center has been under construction in the Amur Region of Russia's Far East since 2012. Vostochny will enable Russia to launch most missions from its own soil, reducing the country's reliance on the Baikonur space station in Kazakhstan.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/science/20150905/1026637807/russia-vostochny-cosmodrome-first-spacecraft.html#ixzz3ksM2Agmi

Pic from George's link:



Nice progress in just couple of weeks.

Any photos of the assembly plant, the city, other areas?

Has any progress been done on the second launch complex, or are they building one at a time?

Amazing photos, btw, love this thread.

artjomh wrote:Any photos of the assembly plant, the city, other areas?

Has any progress been done on the second launch complex, or are they building one at a time?

Amazing photos, btw, love this thread.

Thanks!

They are building one launch complex at a time. This one is for Soyuz.  After that they will be starting one for Angara.

As for pics of plant,  city and other places they are all here but I haven't labeled them. My bad.


For example, these are pics of assembly plant (one of them):

http://russos.ru/img/trip/2015-07-vost/cosmodrome-vost-32.jpg
http://russos.ru/img/trip/2015-07-vost/cosmodrome-vost-34.jpg
All three in one pic:
http://sdelanounas.ru/i/c/2/r/c2RlbGFub3VuYXMucnUvdXBsb2Fkcy8yLzAvMjA1MTQzNjAzMjI1MF9vcmlnLmpwZWc_X19pZD02NDY1OQ==.jpg


This is mission control building:

http://s00.yaplakal.com/pics/pics_preview/9/9/3/5942399.jpg


This is the town (Tsiolkovsky):

http://russos.ru/img/trip/2015-07-vost/cialkovskiy-00.jpg
http://russos.ru/img/trip/2015-07-vost/cialkovskiy-08.jpg
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/xindex.php,qaction=dlattach,3Btopic=19909.0,3Battach=1057106,3Bimage.pagespeed.ic.OBTEkph0m7.jpg


Transmission site (or whatever is accurate name):

http://russos.ru/img/trip/2015-07-vost/cosmodrome-vost-41.jpg
http://russos.ru/img/trip/2015-07-vost/cosmodrome-vost-40.jpg


Along with launch complex that makes for at least five separate sites. There is also train station and airport that I saw on video report. I will try to find and upload it.

Also, check out source links that I posted, they often contain descriptions in Russian. I don't speak the language myself but if you do you are in luck because there is often lots of useful info there.

OK, I found the video!!!  

It is from early this year (you'll notice that a lot of the work is in earlier stages) but it will give you general idea of what goes where.

Also, keep in mind that some "genius" from graphics department made a huge poop-fest when he drew Angara rocket launching from INSIDE firing ring instead of on top of it. Not to mention the fact that launchpad in question is one for Soyuz, not Angara.

This is intellectual midgetry  of highest order!!!  I mean, who the hell is hiring these hacks?



So remember, spaceport is not just one site but instead several very large sites often at considerable distance from one another. My guess is 10-15 km on average.

For example, in this photo of launch complex you can see assembly buildings in the background:  
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And this is how town Tsiolkovsky should look when completed:



EDIT:

One more fresh pic:

Here is a view from slightly better vantage point.

You can see assembly buildings in the middle and launch complex at the bottom. I can't make out the rest.



It is at least several months old, you can tell by the condition of the ''pit'' on the launch complex and lack of vegetation on construction sites, but still pretty cool. Tsiolkovsky is not in the pic because it is a bit further away.

Video-motherload guys!!!

CGI presentation of delivery, assembly, fueling and launch process step-by-step. And best of all, detailed map of all existing and planned facilities from now to 2030s:




Video presentation of spaceport from July 2015 with lots of aerial footage and some statistics:




Footage of launchpad construction from 18. august 2015.




Footage filmed from top of the launch tower:




When completed, this will be THE most awesome place on the planet!!!

From Rogozin's Facebook












Tsiolkovsky construction site:




https://www.facebook.com/dmitry.rogozin/media_set?set=a.981362781887061.1073742005.100000400452160&type=3

Assembly buildings:




Tsiolkovsky:






http://spetsstroy.ru/press/news/detail.php?ID=36227
http://spetsstroy.ru/press/news/detail.php?ID=36124

''Construction of the second industrial complex on Vostochniy Spaceport has started (road maintenance, road repair and construction management, mechanical-repair factory and warehouse facilities, guardhouse, petrol station, etc)

http://www.sdelanounas.ru/blogs/68177/

''First rocket arrived on Vostochniy Spaceport''





http://www.sdelanounas.ru/blogs/68205/