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William Lager

Earth selfie: Baikonur Cosmodrome

Clear skies from Red Sea to India
Wisps of clouds over the Red Sea break up clear skies that stretch eastward to the far east of India.
NASA | NOAA's DSCOVR mission

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Clear skies reach from the Red Sea to the Himalayas, stretching north to Kazakhstan, home of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the only space port operating human space flights.

Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
Landlocked Baikonur Cosmodrome enjoys some clear skies.
MPR News Graphic | NASA image

The Cosmodrome is located on Kazakhstan's desert steppe.

The first orbital satellite, Sputnik 1, was launched from Baikonur in 1957, followed by the birth of human space flight with Vostok 1, which carried cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in 1961.

Expedition 45 departs ISS on Soyuz craft
The Soyuz TMA-17M spacecraft undocks carrying crew members Oleg Kononenko, Kjell Lindgren and Kimiya Yui back to Earth.
NASA | @StationCDRKelley

The Soyuz program, which is based at the Cosmodrome, is the only human space flight system in operation, the only means of carrying crews to the International Space Station. This week, Soyuz TMA-17M returned astronauts from the ISS — and Soyuz TMA-19M delivered Expedition 46 to the ISS.