Kapustin Yar

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Kapustin Yar
Капустин Яр
Russian Federation
Kapustin Yar Kapustin Yar Show map of RussiaShow map of Astrakhan OblastShow all
Coordinates	48°35′N 45°43′E / 48.59°N 45.72°E / 48.59; 45.72Coordinates: 48°35′N 45°43′E / 48.59°N 45.72°E / 48.59; 45.72
Site information
Owner	Russian Federation
Controlled by	Russian Aerospace Forces
Open to the public	No
Site history
Built	1946 (1946)
Built by	Soviet Union

Kapustin Yar (Russian: Капустин Яр) is a Russian rocket launch and development site in Astrakhan Oblast, about 100 km east of Volgograd. It was established by the Soviet Union on 13 May 1946 and in the beginning used technology, material and scientific support from defeated Germany. Numerous launches of test rockets for the Russian military were carried out at the site, as well as satellite and sounding rocket launches. The town of Znamensk and Kapustin Yar (air base) were built nearby to serve the missile test range.

Naming and geography[]

The nearby village Kapustin Yar was used as operations base in the early days of the testing site. The actual name can be translated as "cabbage ravine".

History[]

R-2A and R-5A geophysical rockets

Layout of the first Cosmos-1 satellite at the test site

R-2A rocket with two test dogs (Palma and Kusachka)

RSD-10 missiles prepared for destruction

Combat launching of the Iskander-M in the Kapustin Yar proving ground.

The 4th Missile Test Range "Kapustin Yar" was established by a decree of the Soviet Government "On Questions of Jet Propelled Weapons" on 13 May 1946. The test range was created under the supervision of General-lieutenant (commander of the range 1946–1973) in the desert north end of the Astrakhan region. The first rocket was launched from the site on 18 October 1947; it was one of eleven German A-4s that had been captured.

The State R&D Test Range No 8 (GNIIP-8, "test range S") was established at Kapustin Yar in June 1951.

Five low yield (10-40 kt) atmospheric nuclear tests were performed over the site from 1957 to 1961.^[1]

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.^[2] With the further growth and development, Kapustin Yar became a cosmodrome, serving in 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 at all from 1988–1998. The town of Znamensk was established to support the scientists working on the facilities, their families and supporting personnel. Initially, this was a secret city, not shown on maps and requiring official permission to visit.

Evidence of the importance of Kapustin Yar was obtained by Western intelligence through debriefing of returning German scientists and spy flights. The first such flight reportedly^[who?] took place in mid-1953 using a high flying Canberra aircraft of the RAF. The UK Government has never admitted such a flight took place nor have any of the supposed participants provided direct evidence^[3][4]

Due to its role as a development site for new technology, Kapustin Yar is also the site of numerous Soviet-era UFO sightings and has been called "Russia's Roswell".^[5]

On 3 June 1947, No. 2642–817, Kapustin Yar was designated as the location of the new rocket test site, Major General , and the chief of staff of the GPC, a colonel .^[6] The first officers arrived at the future training ground on 20 August 1947.

In September 1947, a special brigade of the Reserve of the Supreme Main Command, Major General of Artillery, arrived from Germany (since 1950 – the 22nd BON RVGK), then two special trains with equipment taken from Germany. By the beginning of October 1947, in addition to the concrete test stand and bunker, and at the 1st site, a launch site with a bunker, a temporary technical position, and an installation building were built; a highway and a 20-kilometer railway line connecting the landfill with the main highway to Stalingrad (Volgograd) were built.

Housing construction at the site was not conducted until 1948, builders and testers lived in tent, dugout, temporary buildings, and also lived in peasant izba in Kapustin Yar (village). Guide landfill lived in special train. By 1 October 1947, reported to the leadership about the readiness of the launch site for launching rockets, on 14 October 1947, the first batch of missiles V-2 (A-4) 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. In the period from 18 October to 13 November 1947, 11 V-2 rockets were launched, of which 7 achieved the targeted range (two of them with a large deviation from the set trajectory) and 4 failed.^[7]

From 1947 to 1957, Kapustin Yar was the only place to test Soviet ballistic missiles. On the test site were tested missiles R-1 (September – October 1948, September – October 1949), R-2 (September – October 1949), R-5 (missile) (March 1953), R-12 (missile), R-14 (missile), etc.

On 2 September 1959, a missile (R-12), for the first time in the world, was launched from a missile silo.

In 1957–1959, intercontinental cruise missile "Burya" started at the Kapustin Yar proving ground.

On 20 May 1960, the Training Center of the Rocket Forces of the Ground Forces was established on the territory of the State Landfill, whose task was to create combat coherence of missile Parts created, train and retrain rocket specialists, create regulatory documents for all-round missile combat activities parts of the Ground Forces.

On 16 March 1962, Kapustin Yar became cosmodrome: Kosmos 1 satellite was launched. Subsequently, small research satellites were launched from the Kapustin Yar cosmodrome, to launch which were used launch vehicle of the light class of the series Kosmos.

In subsequent years, a large number of various short- and medium-range missiles, cruise missile, complexes and air defense missiles were tested and tested at the test site.

According to open data, since the 1950s, at least 11 have been conducted at the Kapustin Yar test site nuclear explosions ^[8] (at an altitude of 300 m to 5, 5 km), the total capacity of which is approximately 65 atomic bombs, dropped on Hiroshima. In addition to nuclear tests, 24 thousand guided missiles were blown up in Kapustin Yar, 177 samples of military equipment were tested, 619 missiles were destroyed RSD-10.

In 1994, the 4 GPC Russian Ministry of Defense 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.^[9]

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.^[10]

In 2008, Russia carried out 27 launches launch vehicles, retaining the first place in the world in terms of the number of launches and surpassing its own figure for 2007. Most (19) of the 27 launches were performed from the Baikonur cosmodrome, six from the Plesetsk space launch center (Arkhangelsk Region). One space launch was carried out from the launch base Dombarovsky Air Base (Orenburg region) and the Kapustin Yar test site.^[11]

Flight "Canberra"[]

Western intelligence services learned about the existence of the test site from German scientists returning to their homeland.^[12] For an additional gathering of intelligence in August 1953, a specially trained Royal Air Force reconnaissance Canberra (Canberra PR3, tail number WH726), was equipped with a unique Robin camera.^{[13][14][note 1]} The aircraft was launched from Giebelstadt Air Base and flying over the Volga at an altitude of more than 20 km, approached Kapustin Yar. The MiGs raised in alarm could only slightly damage the aircraft. After taking a photo of the landfill, the Canberra crossed the Caspian Sea and landed in the Iranian city of Tabriz. As a result of the flight, photographs of secret objects at the site were obtained.^{[note 2]} The success of the operation gave impetus to the development of satellite and aerial photography programs of military facilities in the USSR and other socialist countries.

Missiles tested/launched[]

• October 1947 – A-4 (V-2)
• 18 October 1947 – Articul T (exact copy of V-2)
• 10 October 1948 – R-1 (missile)
• January 1952 – S-25 Berkut
• 3 January 1955 – R-11FM
• 20 January 1955 – R-5M
• 2 February 1956 – R-5M with standard nuclear warhead
• 22 June 1957 – R-12
• March 1959 – R-13
• 6 July 1960 – R-14 Chusovaya
• 11 February 1962 – R-14U
• 16 March 1962 – 11K63 Cosmos
• 21 September 1974 – RT-21M RSD-10 Pioneer
• 12 February 1999 – S-400
• 3 March 2011 – S-500
• 4 March 2014 – RT-2PM Topol
• 20 May 2014 – RT-2PM Topol
• 28 November 2019 – RT-2PM Topol

Launch pads[]

Name		Coordinates	Comment
Burya Launch Complex	Kapustin Yar Burya	48°28′N 46°19′E / 48.47°N 46.32°E / 48.47; 46.32	Burya. Elaborate complex consisting of horizontal assembly building, huge circular rail line, and mobile erector/launcher. Built at the Soviet Vladimirovka flight test facility south of Kapustin Yar.
Area 84	Kapustin Yar LC84	48°37′N 46°18′E / 48.62°N 46.30°E / 48.62; 46.30	Launch pads: 1. R-5, RT-15. R-5 Launch complex consisting of three pads.
Area 86	Kapustin Yar LC86	48°36′N 46°18′E / 48.60°N 46.30°E / 48.60; 46.30	Launch pads: 4. Kosmos 11K63, Kosmos 63S1, Kosmos 63S1M, R-31. Single launch complex consisting of four launch pads.
Area 107	Kapustin Yar LC107	48°32′N 46°18′E / 48.54°N 46.30°E / 48.54; 46.30	Launch pads: 2. Kosmos 11K65M, Kosmos 65MP, R-14. Single launch complex consisting of two launch pads.
Area 107	Kapustin Yar LC107	48°32′N 46°18′E / 48.54°N 46.30°E / 48.54; 46.30	Launch garage: 1. mobile ICBM Topol/Topol-E
Mayak-1 silo	Kapustin Yar Mayak-1	48°36′N 46°18′E / 48.60°N 46.30°E / 48.60; 46.30	Launch pads: 1. R-12.
Mayak-2 silo	Kapustin Yar Mayak-2	48°34′N 46°18′E / 48.57°N 46.30°E / 48.57; 46.30	Launch pads: 1. Kosmos 63S1, R-12.
Pioner Launch Complex	Kapustin Yar Pioner	48°37′N 46°15′E / 48.62°N 46.25°E / 48.62; 46.25	Rail-served launch complex.
Area 1	Kapustin Yar PL1	48°24′N 46°12′E / 48.40°N 46.20°E / 48.40; 46.20	Launch pads: 1. R-12.
Area 87	Kapustin Yar PL87	48°34′N 46°18′E / 48.56°N 46.30°E / 48.56; 46.30	Launch pads: 1. RT-2.
R-1 Launch Area	Kapustin Yar R-1	48°48′N 45°40′E / 48.80°N 45.67°E / 48.80; 45.67
R-11 Launch Area	Kapustin Yar R-11	48°42′N 46°12′E / 48.70°N 46.20°E / 48.70; 46.20	Naval missile test area.
R-14 Silo Prototype	Kapustin Yar R-14	48°32′N 46°18′E / 48.53°N 46.30°E / 48.53; 46.30
R-2 Launch Area	Kapustin Yar R-2	48°47′N 45°42′E / 48.78°N 45.70°E / 48.78; 45.70
R-5 Initial Launch Area	Kapustin Yar R-5	48°45′N 45°45′E / 48.75°N 45.75°E / 48.75; 45.75
SM-49 submarine simulator	Kapustin Yar SM-49	48°40′N 46°16′E / 48.67°N 46.27°E / 48.67; 46.27	Launch pads: 1. R-11FM.
Sounding rocket launch area	Kapustin Yar Sounding	48°42′N 46°12′E / 48.70°N 46.20°E / 48.70; 46.20	Site used to launch sounding rockets.
V-2 Launch Area	Kapustin Yar V-2	48°33′N 45°49′E / 48.55°N 45.82°E / 48.55; 45.82	Original site for V-2 launches in 1946. First complex at Kapustin Yar.
Vertikal Launch Pad	Kapustin Yar Vertikal	48°30′N 46°47′E / 48.50°N 46.78°E / 48.50; 46.78	Launch pads: 1. Launch site for R-5 scientific launches, located well east of the primary military launch areas.

Interesting facts[]

This section contains a list of miscellaneous information. Please relocate any relevant information into other sections or articles. (September 2020)

• In public opinion, the site is often referred to as "Russian Roswell"^[15] – the place where USSR was located or was investigated captured or wrecked alien ships. Based on this legend, various television programs were filmed and there are many different data on the Internet, including the structure of the underground complex of the channel.^[16]
• Kapustin Yar is mentioned in the story "Cradle in Orbit" by Arthur C. Clarke.
• Kapustin Yar is mentioned in 's novel Step to the left, step to the right. M., AST, 1999.
• One of the key missions of the 2003 computer game UFO: Aftermath is the task of finding documents in an underground base located at the Kapustin Yar test site.
• On 8 January 1992, during a trip to Saratov Region, the President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin, making a statement on the issue of restoration , proposed Soviet Germans to move to Kapustin Yar, instead of their legitimate territory, "... and let this land, which is filled with shells, may they cultivate it... There may be some such region in some future and there will be, or there may be some such national Volga region Germans, but only when there will be 90 percent of Germans".

See also[]

• Area 51
• White Sands Missile Range

Explanatory notes[]

References[]

Further reading[]

• Naimark, Norman (1995). The Russians in Germany. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-78405-5.
• Kurt, Magnus (1999). Raketensklaven. Deutsche Forscher hinter rotem Stacheldraht. Elbe-Dnjepr-Verlag. ISBN 3-933395-67-4.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kapustin Yar proving ground.

• Web-site of Kapustin Yar
• History and map of Kapustin Yar
• 1953 Spyflight by RAF
• @www.aviation.ru
• Launch Pads of Kapustin YAR
• Dunning, Brian (December 3, 2013). "Skeptoid #381: 8 Secret Bases: Real or Fictional?". Skeptoid. 6. Zhitkur Base