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Kapustin Yar () is a Russian military training area and a rocket launch complex in Astrakhan Oblast, about 100 km east of Volgograd. It was established by the Soviet Union on 13 May 1946. In the beginning, Kapustin Yar used technology, material, and scientific support gained from the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Numerous launches of test rockets for the Russian military were carried out at the site, as well as satellite and sounding rocket launches. The towns of Znamensk and Kapustin Yar were built nearby to serve the missile test range.
In public opinion, Kapustin Yar has been compared to as the "Russian Roswell"; the place where the USSR discovered, investigated or captured alien ships (). Due to its role as a development site for new technology, Kapustin Yar is also the site of numerous Soviet-era UFO sightings.Featured in the 2005 UFO Files documentary episode "Russian Roswell" which aired on the History Channel. This legend has spawned various television programs and Internet speculation and theories, such as speculation on the structure of an underground complex beneath the site.polygon, see d / f "Russian Roswell" from the series 'UFO Files' (2005) of the History Channel
As of 1959, Kapustin Yar was the only publicly known Soviet missile test range. Non-Soviet observers believed at first that Sputnik 1 and Sputnik 2 launched from the site. With the further growth and development, Kapustin Yar became a Spaceport, serving this function since 1966. The rate of space launches was very low, usually 1–2 a year, and during the Soviet era it hosted only the two smallest launch vehicles: the R-12 and R-14 derived Kosmos boosters. There were no space launches from 1988 to 1998. The town of Znamensk was established to support the scientists working on the facilities, their families, and supporting personnel. Initially, this was a closed city, not shown on maps and requiring official permission to visit.
By the beginning of October 1947, in addition to the concrete test stand and bunker at the first site, a launch site with a bunker, a temporary technical position, and an installation building were built. Additionally, a highway and a 20-kilometer railway line connecting the site with the main highway to Stalingrad (Volgograd) were built. Site housing was not constructed until 1948. Until then, builders and testers lived in tent, dugouts, temporary buildings, and peasant izba in the village of Kapustin Yar.
By 1 October 1947, Voznyuk reported the site was ready for launching rockets. On 14 October 1947, the first batch of V-2 rockets arrived at the test site. On 18 October 1947 at 10:47 Moscow time, the first launch of ballistic missile in the USSR was made. From 18 October to 13 November 1947, eleven V-2 rockets were launched; seven achieved the targeted range (two with a large deviation from the set trajectory) and four failed.
From 1947 to 1957, Kapustin Yar was the only place to test Soviet ballistic missiles, including the R-1 (September–October 1948, September–October 1949), R-2 (September–October 1949), R-5 Pobeda (March 1953), R-12 Dvina, and R-14 Chusovaya, among others. During 1957–1959, the intercontinental cruise missile "Burya" started at the Kapustin Yar proving ground. On 2 September 1959, the R-12 became the first missile launched from a missile silo.
In June 1951, the State R&D Test Range No 8 (GNIIP-8, "test range S") was established at Kapustin Yar.
On 20 May 1960, the Training Center of the Rocket Forces of the Ground Forces was established on the territory of the State Landfill. The Center was tasked with creating combat coherence of missile troops, training and retraining rocket specialists, and creating regulatory documents for all-round missile combat activities troops of the Ground Forces.
On 16 March 1962, Kapustin Yar became a cosmodrome with the launch of the Kosmos 1 satellite. Subsequently, small research satellites were launched from Kapustin Yar on light Kosmos rockets.
In subsequent years, many short- and medium-range missiles, cruise missiles, complexes, and air defense missiles were tested at the test site.
In 1994, the 4 GPC Russian Ministry of Defence entered the test site Air Defense Forces. In October 1998, the 4th State Central Polygon was transformed into the 4th State Central Interspecific Polygon. In 1998, the "Sary-Shagan" test site (located in south-eastern Kazakhstan and rented by Russia) was removed from the Air Defense troops and reassigned to the 4th State Central Interspecific polygon.
In 1999, Russian troops were redeployed to the Kapustin Yar test site from the 11th State Research Test Site of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Emba (ru), due to the dismantling of the latter.
In 2008, Russia carried out 27 launches, surpassing its figure for 2007 and setting the highest number worldwide. Most (19 / 27) launches were performed from the Baikonur cosmodrome; six from the Plesetsk space launch center in Arkhangelsk Oblast; one from the Dombarovsky Air Base in Orenburg Oblast; and one from the Kapustin Yar test site.
On 9 July 2024, Ukrainian drones struck the missile testing facility at Kapustin Yar. Footage showed a building being struck and exploding. Russian officials claimed all 20 drones were shot down, while one black painted Ukrainian Bober drone crashed landed in a field. Subsequent satellite images showed scorch marks at the facility.
| Burya Launch Complex | Kapustin Yar Burya | Elaborate complex: horizontal assembly building, huge circular rail line, and mobile erector and launcher; built at the Soviet Vladimirovka flight test facility, south of Kapustin Yar | |
| Area 84 | Kapustin Yar LC84 | 3 launch pads: R-5, RT-15, R-5 | |
| Area 86 | Kapustin Yar LC86 | 4 launch pads: Kosmos 11K63, Kosmos 63S1, Kosmos 63S1M, R-31 | |
| Area 107 | Kapustin Yar LC107 | 3 launch pads: Kosmos 11K65M, Kosmos 65MP, R-14 | |
| Area 107 | Kapustin Yar LC107 | 1 launch garage: mobile ICBM Topol/Topol-E | |
| Mayak-1 silo | Kapustin Yar Mayak-1 | 1 launch pad: R-12 | |
| Mayak-2 silo | Kapustin Yar Mayak-2 | 2 launch pads: Kosmos 63S1, R-12 | |
| Pioner Launch Complex | Kapustin Yar Pioner | Rail-served launch complex | |
| Area 1 | Kapustin Yar PL1 | 1 launch pad: R-12 | |
| Area 87 | Kapustin Yar PL87 | 1 launch pad: RT-2 | |
| R-1 Launch Area | Kapustin Yar R-1 | ||
| R-11 Launch Area | Kapustin Yar R-11 | Naval missile test area | |
| R-14 Silo Prototype | Kapustin Yar R-14 | ||
| R-2 Launch Area | Kapustin Yar R-2 | ||
| R-5 Initial Launch Area | Kapustin Yar R-5 | ||
| SM-49 submarine simulator | Kapustin Yar SM-49 | 1 launch pad: R-11FM | |
| Sounding rocket launch area | Kapustin Yar Sounding | Site used to launch sounding rockets | |
| V-2 Launch Area | Kapustin Yar V-2 | Original site for V-2 launches in 1946; first complex at Kapustin Yar | |
| Vertikal Launch Pad | Kapustin Yar Vertikal | 1 launch pad; Site for R-5 scientific launches, located east of the primary military launch areas |
Kapustin Yar is mentioned in Alexander Gromov's novel Step to the Left, step to the Right. (M., AST, 1999.)
One of the key missions of the 2003 computer game is the task of finding documents in an underground base located at the Kapustin Yar test site.
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