Plesetsk Cosmodrome Site 41
Site 41, also known as Lesobaza and SK-1, was a launch complex at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia. It consisted of a single pad, Site 41/1, and was used by R-7 derived rockets between 1959 and 1989.
Launch site | Plesetsk Cosmodrome | ||||||||||||
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Location | 62°55′53″N 40°31′48″E | ||||||||||||
Short name | Pu-41 | ||||||||||||
Operator | Soviet Space Forces | ||||||||||||
Launch pad(s) | One | ||||||||||||
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Site 41 was originally built for use by R-7A Semyorka missiles. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, an armed missile was placed on Site 41. It would have had a response time of 8–12 hours should an order have been given to launch it.[1] No launches were conducted from Site 41 whilst it was operational.
In 1963, the complex was converted for use by carrier rockets. The first launch from the complex was a suborbital test of an R-7A Semyorka missile, on 14 December 1965. The first orbital launch from the complex occurred on 17 March 1966, when a Vostok-2 rocket launched Kosmos 112. In total, 308 orbital and two suborbital launches were conducted from the complex, using R-7A, Vostok-2, Vostok-2M, Voskhod and Soyuz-U rockets. The last launch to use the complex was of a Soyuz-U with Bion 9 on 15 September 1989.[1][2] Since this launch, the pad has been disassembled.
References
- Wade, Mark. "Plesetsk". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 2007-12-29. Retrieved 2009-03-18.
- Mark, Wade. "Soyuz". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 2010-01-17. Retrieved 2009-03-06.
- Zak, Anatoly. "Cosmodrome Plesetsk". RussianSpaceWeb. Retrieved 2009-03-18.
- Wade, Mark. "Plesetsk LC41/1". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2009-03-18.