Classic Uzbekistan Group Tour in 2024 and 2025 with Guaranteed Dates

Classic Uzbekistan Group Tour 2024-2025

Our most popular escorted tour of Uzbekistan in a small group will acquaint you with the most famous ancient cities in Uzbekistan: Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand, as well as the modern capital, Tashkent.

Tashkent, Khiva, Bukhara, Samarkand

8 Days | Spring, summer, autumn | from US$ 1,160 per person

The Soyuz Rocket Launch From Baikonur Spaceport

On 20 April 2017, the rocket Soyuz MS-04 was successfully launched delivering to International Space Stations (ISS) two astronauts – Fyodor Yurchikhin (Russia) and Jack Fisher (USA). We organized Baikonur launch tour for two tourists, from the Great Britain and South Korea, and now we are glad to present you the photo report about this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

1. After meeting our tourists at the Almaty airport, we flew to Kizilorda. There driver met us and took to Baikonur. We stopped at the hotel Centralnaya with a monument to Lenin nearby - one of the symbols of the former USSR.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

2. Before the start of the main excursion, we had few hours of free time at our disposal to check out the city that resembles any provincial city of Russia (it is rented and administered by Russia).
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

3. There are not only many monuments dedicated to astronautics, but also ordinary compositions, sometimes unexpectedly located on the playground.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

4. Food shops offer big variety including alcohol.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

5. It seems impossible to count all images and samples of rockets at Baikonur. This is a minimized still rather large sample of rocket Proton.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

6. The first point of our Baikonur excursion was stela “Science”, one of the symbols of the city.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

7. We then headed to the museum of history of Baikonur located on the second floor of the City Palace of Culture.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

8. The first hall is dedicated to the constructors of the spaceport who previously fought in the World War II. Different kinds of weapons are exhibited there.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

9. You can also find there military uniforms and lots of medals the future creators of Baikonur had been awarded with.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

10. We were then introduced to the history of rocketry in the USSR where you could see nozzles, engines and outer skin of rockets.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

11. Some exhibits were real details of rockets found after the launch.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

12. Many exhibits are hung under the ceiling. For instance, there are samples of spaceships Soyuz (USSR) and Apollo (USA) that reflect historical event, when these Great Powers began to co-operate in the space area.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

13. However, one of the most interesting exhibits is definitely the copy of ISS that will allow you imagine the scales of this international project.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

14. At the end of the Baikonur history museum excursion, they showed us a sample of launch pad and explained rocket launch process.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

15. After the museum, our group headed to see the brightest monuments of Baikonur. The first stop was at the monument of Gagarin, the first astronaut in the world.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

16. You can also find the sample of rocket Soyuz nearby.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

17. Did you know that real rockets once used for different trainings and tests are now considered old and transformed into monuments.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

18. A trip to the monument of rocket constructor M.K.Yangel ended our excursion that day.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

19. It was him, who created intercontinental ballistic rocket 15A15 that was the base of the nuclear shield in USSR.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

20. Next day, early in the morning, we went to the see-off to wave to the astronauts. After half an hour of waiting, Yurchikhin and Fisher came out of the hotel. Showered in the acclaims of the audience, they headed to the cosmodrome.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

21. While entire attention was drawn to the main heroes of the launch, the backup astronauts slipped into the bus unnoticed. These astronauts backup the main crew until the moment of boarding to the rocket. According to the rules of preparation for the space flights, these back up members will be included to the main crew and continue to the ISS with the mission MS-06.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

22. When astronauts departed, people went to see the “Alley of cosmonauts” famous for the fact that every astronaut plants a tree there before the mission. The most popular was the one planted by Gagarin.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

23. After a little walk in the alley of astronauts, we went to the Baikonur space center and on the way saw the first sight for today – radio complex “Saturn” that tracks rocket missions.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

24. On entry to the territory of cosmodrome, we were checked according to the list that include everyone who has the permission to visit this strategically important object.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

25. The first place to visit was the museum of the Baikonur cosmodrome.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

26. It presents the best exhibits including the sample of the space ship Soyuz.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

27. To the right of the museum building, we saw an open exposition with different modules of rocket: engines, fuel tank and others.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

28. The most interesting and the extensive one is the real space shuttle “Buran”.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

29. We viewed it from outside where thermal panels are seen on the frame.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

30. We then went up to the board of this space ship where they have a small museum exhibition on its history.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

31. If you walk further and around the building of the museum, you will find an exhibition of cars used at the space center in the first years of its existence.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

32. Later we had an interesting excursion in the museum halls. There were lots of exhibits, but one of the most remarkable ones was the descent landing module of the Soyuz spacecraft.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

33. The lift was open and one could check how the cabin of astronauts looked like.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

34. We were also shown two historical buildings – houses of Korolev and Gagarin; everything has been preserved there as it was half-century ago.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

35. Then we went to listen to the presentation of astronauts who were all ready for the launch.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

36. They passed by as Hollywood stars on red carpet with people cheering them.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

37. The captain of the ship reported to the director of the Roscosmos that the crew is ready for takeoff and they walked towards the space ship.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

38. One of the touching moments was farewell to relatives who also arrived at the Baikonur cosmodrome.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

39. After spending some time in the museum of the Baikonur cosmodrome, we went to the observation deck; one could see the rocket from there very well.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

40. Assembly workshop was seen from afar.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

41. The radar antennae towered above the observation deck.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

42. Here are some more radar aerials and people who did not fit the observation deck.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

43. Unfortunately, there is not enough space with a decent view on the observation deck. We did not find place either, though we still managed to see the Soyuz rocket launch.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

44. Time passed slowly. The rocket was standing there and suddenly the girder supplying fuel went off. It means the launch should start now.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

45. Engine rumble has begun and flame appeared under the rocket.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

46. Seconds later, the rocket began to go up smoothly jetting fire.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

47. And if in the beginning the takeoff was rather slow, further on, with every second, it was speeding up more.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

48. A minute later, only a small dot could be seen far in the sky.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

49. Another minute later, only trailing vortex was left among the skies.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

50. After the tour climaxed with the launch, our excursion continued. We headed to the launch pad N31 that is the exact copy of the “Gagarin start”.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

51. Along with other tourists, we proceeded to the dangerous zone. It is not safe only before the launch.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

52. This is how the launch pad looks like. Rails are used for delivering the space ship.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

53. Here we learnt how the complicated launch mechanism works.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

54. We also found out that there were 386 launches carried out from this very pad – after each launch they add one more star.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

55. In the end, it was decided to have a group photo with the launch pad N31 in the background.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

56. Our program was coming to its end, and our partners in Baikonur offered to visit a school. It was an International space school named after V.N.Chelomey.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

57. First, they showed us a class where school students design copies of famous samples of planes and rockets.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

58. Then they showed already familiar rocket engines. They are used for teaching students rocketry.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

59. There were other exhibits too. We were told that the graduates of this school very often continue their study at the Moscow Aviation Institute, after become space engineers and some even become astronauts.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

60. The last notable exhibit was the landing capsule for the space ship Proton that did not pass tests and became a sample in this school.
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur

61. This is how our trip to the Soyuz launch at the Baikonur spaceport finished. Thank you for having this virtual tour with us!
Photo Report about the Soyuz Rocket Launch from Baikonur