Museum of the Baikonur Cosmodrome

Baikonur Cosmodrome

Baikonur

Karmakshy District

Kazakhstan

www.tsenki.com/en/about/branch/southern/museum/

Aircraft collection

14 – CCCP-26959

Antonov An-12 Buran Lisunov Li-2

Baikonur Cosmodrome has a small museum, located right next to two small cottages, once residences of Sergey Korolev and Yuri Gagarin. Both cottages are part of the museum complex and have been preserved. The museum is home to a collection of space artifacts. A restored test artifact from the Soviet Buran programme sits next to the museum entrance. The actual vehicle that flew a single orbital test mission in 1988 was destroyed in a hangar collapse in 2002. It has been restored and hosts an interactive presentation for visitors.

The museum also houses photographs related to the cosmodrome history, including images of all cosmonauts. Every crew of every expedition launched from Baikonur leaves behind a signed crew photograph that is displayed behind the glass.

Baikonur’s museum holds many objects related to Gagarin, including the ground control panel from his flight, his uniforms, and soil from his landing site, preserved in a silver container. One of the museum rooms also holds an older version of Soyuz descent capsule. (source Wikipedia)

The An-12 and Li-2 are in the city.