Svobodny (launch site)

Svobodny ( _ru. Свобо́дный) is a Russian rocket launch site used since 1996 and located in the Amur Oblast. Geographical location: coord|51|42|N|128|00|E. Originally constructed as a launch site for intercontinental ballistic missiles, it was planned as a replacement for Baikonur Cosmodrome, which became a foreign territory after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but the development was not finished because of financial difficulties. Since 1997 rockets have been launched off launchers of the "Start-1" type. Certain launch sites can be modified for rockets of the Rockot (SS-19 based) class.

Only five launches have taken place at the underused Svobodny site. In 2005, after the lease renewal of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the Russian Space Agency decided they did not require a second space launch complex, and ordered Svobodny closed.Fact|date=July 2008

However, despite this order, the complex launched the Israeli Eros B Satellite on April 25, 2006 aboard a Start class rocket. Plans were to launch again at the site in the months following.Fact|date=July 2008

ee also

*Vostochny Cosmodrome

External links

* [http://www.astronautix.com/sites/svoodniy.htm Launch site profile at Austronautix.com]