Kapustin Yar nuclear test site. The history of the village of Kapustin Yar

Patronymic from the non-church male personal name Cabbage, not uncommon among Russians in the 15th and 16th centuries. Many examples in Sl. Tupikov, since 1498 Kholop Kapusta and others, surname (or even patronymic) 1563 Utosh Andreev, son of Kapustin. (N) (Source: “Dictionary of Russians ... ... Russian surnames

KAPUSTIN YAR, see the article Cosmodrome ... Modern Encyclopedia

Spaceport in Russian Federation, Arkhangelsk region It was founded in 1946. From Kapustin Yar, vertical geophysical rockets, artificial Earth satellites from the Cosmos series, Indian artificial Earth satellites Ariabhata and Bhaskara were launched ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Kapustin G. G. Grigory Grigorievich (years of birth and death unknown) Rus. miner, discoverer of Donbass. Born in with. Danilovsky, Kostroma province. From 1715 he worked in the bugle team. master explorer Vasily Lodygin, participated in mining ... ... Geological Encyclopedia

Kapustin Yar, cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region. Main in 1946. Geophysical rockets, satellites, and other aircraft are launched from Kapustin Yar. Source: Encyclopedia Fatherland ... Russian history

Exist., number of synonyms: 1 polygon (10) ASIS synonym dictionary. V.N. Trishin. 2013 ... Synonym dictionary

Exist., number of synonyms: 1 znamensk (3) ASIS synonym dictionary. V.N. Trishin. 2013 ... Synonym dictionary

KAPUSTIN- Mikhail Yakovlevich (1847-1920), well-known hygienist and public figure. After graduating from the Medico-Surgical Academy (1870), he worked first as a local zemstvo doctor, and then as a military doctor. Since 1878, he devoted himself to the study of hygiene, spending in ... ... Big Medical Encyclopedia

Kapustin Yar- KAPUSTIN YAR, see the article Cosmodrome. … Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

Contents 1 Men 1.1 A 1.2 B 1.3 C ... Wikipedia

Books

• Law of the European Union. Textbook for high schools. Vulture MO, Kapustin A.Ya. , The purpose of the textbook is to give an idea of ​​the fundamentals of European law as the most important tool integration processes running within European Union, to teach students the skills of analysis and ... Category: Tutorials: basic Series: Master Publisher: Urayt,
• Chevrolet spark since 2005, gasoline, repair manual in color photographs, Kapustin A.V. , Repair, operation and maintenance manual, device for Chevrolet Spark cars since 2005, equipped with gasoline engines with a displacement of 0.8 (F8CV; ... Category: Chevrolet Series: Repair without problems Publisher: Third Rome,

Kapustin Yar (Astrakhan region) is the Russian central interspecific missile military range. It is one of the oldest sites of importance. The history of the Russian shield began precisely from the Kapustin Yar area. At the same time, this area is still a research, testing center and spaceport.

Landfill history

The Kapustin Yar test site (Astrakhan region) began to be created after the Second World War, when Soviet scientists gained access to German technologies. Despite the fact that the USSR got only the remnants of technical documentation, this was enough to start reproducing V-1 and 2 rockets.

In May 1946, the leadership of the USSR decided to create a specialized testing ground. As a result, the district of the village of Kapustin Yar was chosen for these purposes. The first head of the test site was V.I. Vozniuk, lieutenant general of artillery. He ran the facility for 27 years. The landfill was named after the village of Kapustin Yar.

Object secrecy

When the military landed on its shores with the first cargo, no one had any idea about the creation of the Soviet cosmodrome. Information about the goals and objectives of the landfill was classified, and even the local authorities received an order from the leadership only to provide all possible assistance to the arriving military in their arrangement.

The seriousness of the object became clear when the boundaries of the village were changed and 200 families were relocated to other areas. People received good compensation for those times. The resettlement ended in 1949. Many of the remaining residents got jobs in the calculation groups, KECh and the service sector. Some have gone on active duty.

Polygon expansion

Initially, the test facility Kapustin Yar (Astrakhan region) had only a concrete stand. In 1947 were built:

• bunker;
• launch pad;
• temporary technical station;
• bridge;
• assembly station;
• warehouse for rocket fuel.

Somewhat later, a highway and a railway appeared, connecting the object with Stalingrad (now Volgograd). Life on the range was very hard. People lived in dugouts and tents that stood in the bare steppe. The management of the landfill huddled in the carriage of the special train. The first normal residential buildings began to be built only in 1948.

First tests

In the autumn of 1947, the first tests were carried out at the Kapustin Yar training ground (Astrakhan region). The first ballistic missile of the USSR was launched. The tests were successful, the projectile hit the right square. Rocket and space Soviet era was opened on 10/10/1948. In a short time, a new weapon appeared for the USSR Armed Forces. For 10 years, the village of Kapustin Yar (Astrakhan region) was the only place for testing ballistic missiles.

At the same time, the test site began to be used to launch geophysical and meteorological projectiles. In 1951, the first series of rockets was launched from the cosmodrome with dogs on board. Since 1956, tests of nuclear missile weapons began. At the same time, the landfill developed more and more. New technical and launch complexes were built, the volume of research work increased, and so on.

spaceport

In the early 60s. the object Kapustin Yar (Astrakhan region) was prepared for the start of space exploration. The polygon received the status of a cosmodrome in March 1962. Then the first Soviet satellite was launched into the Earth's orbit. In 1969, the cosmodrome received international status. Indian satellites were sent into space from the test site. Over time, launches began to decline until they stopped altogether.

In 1987, all tests were stopped at the test site, and the country's leadership mothballed the facility for 10 years. Its revival began only in 1998. Testing, launching rockets and research facilities began again. In 2007 was checked cruise missile, and in 2011 - OTRK "Iskander-M".

In 2015, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announced the imminent testing of robotic systems at the test site. Preparatory work and modernization of the transmission system began. It is planned to test combat robotic systems, which should be responsible for beacons, signaling facilities, etc.

· Revival of the Kapustin Yar test site·

Today, May 13, marks the 70th anniversary of the Kapustin Yar test site. Military historian Vladimir Ivanovich Ivkin told an NVO correspondent about how this complex test complex was created, who stood at the origins, what work was carried out on it. Of particular interest are previously unknown facts from the history of the landfill. It is also worth noting that the events of those distant years, when the landfill was created, closely echo the present. Now Kapustin Yar is part of the structure of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Today, missile weapons are being tested on it for all types and branches of the armed forces. This is the oldest missile range in Russia, it is not only the cradle of the strategic missile forces, it was the birthplace of our cosmonautics.

MEETING THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY

In this anniversary year for Kapustin Yar, it is planned to test about 160 types of new weapons, twice as many as in 2015. And last year was marked by the beginning of testing of combat robotic systems for the Strategic Missile Forces. In advance, work was carried out to modernize the data transmission system, and a single information field of the test site was created. A complete modernization of the measuring complex is already being completed, which will soon operate in automatic mode. Improving systems for testing weapons, military and special equipment(VVST). The landfill is preparing for intensive activities related to the rearmament program.

Research and testing work will be carried out both for the needs of the Armed Forces and in the interests of other ministries and departments. The main emphasis is now being placed on improving the armaments and military equipment, including reconnaissance equipment and high-precision weapon control systems.

IN THE FAR 1945

In those days when the Red Army entered the borders of Germany, into the hands of Soviet command documents about V-2 missiles (index A-4) were found. The military-political leadership of the USSR already knew about the existence of the German "weapon of retaliation" (the German abbreviation "V" (fau) from the word Vergeltungswaffe, which translates as "weapon of retaliation"), but this time intelligence managed to get detailed documents. The level of development of rocket weapons in Nazi Germany was amazing. Serial production of the V-2 has been going on since the beginning of 1944, the rocket carried a warhead weighing 1 ton over a distance exceeding 280 km, and reached the target with acceptable accuracy.

The American and British intelligence services have also been closely engaged in the operational development of these weapons for a long time. At the end of the war, the allies launched a hunt for specialists in the field of rocketry, unprecedented in terms of the use of forces and of particular importance.

US intelligence agents turned all three occupation zones that were under the control of the Western allies upside down in search of specialists in the field of design (construction) and production of missiles. As a result, the chief designer of the V-2 was taken to the States Wernher von Braun and with him from 300 to 400 specialists of the highest level.

The Americans received the design and design documentation in full, a large number of components, fuel, materials. In addition, they captured about 130 ready-to-launch missiles. Research work at the US test sites began immediately after the delivery of materials, equipment, missiles and the arrival of specialists there.

The UK was also able to capture a number of finished missiles, documentation, components and materials for their production, necessary to start developing their own models of jet technology.

The Soviet side got the crumbs from the German "rocket pie". It was lucky that the V-2 production complex in Peenemünde ended up in the Soviet occupation zone.

It was possible to find mid-level and low-level specialists, mainly engineers and skilled workers, whose experience was used to assemble the V-2 both in East Germany and in the Soviet Union.

In 1945, a commission for the study of rocket technology was formed in the USSR. This commission came to the conclusion that the work has a colossal volume and requires decisions at the highest government level, since it will be necessary to use the resources of the state to carry out this task. Beginning in August 1945, the Soviet government urgently adopted four important resolutions on the development of rocket technology in our country. Before that, a resolution of the State Defense Committee was prepared, it prescribed the organization of work on the design and production of missiles. The People's Commissariat of Ammunition was obliged to establish the production of solid-fuel rockets, and the People's Commissariat of the aviation industry was to manufacture liquid-fuel rockets.

But this resolution was never adopted due to the lack of coordination of the requirements of industrial people's commissariats (hereinafter ministries) on those specifications put forward by the military. The army wanted to get a powerful weapon, and the industry in every possible way refused this extremely difficult task that suddenly arose. People's Commissar of the Aviation Industry Alexey Ivanovich Shakhurin, pointing out that a rocket is not an airplane, sought to relieve himself of this task.

He motivated his refusal by the fact that the rocket, although it is an aircraft, is very specific, which is closer in its design to missiles for BM13 than to aircraft. And since the shells for the Katyushas were produced by the People's Commissariat of Ammunition, Shakhurin proposed that the task of producing missiles be completely entrusted to this department.

In March 1946, the upper echelon of state power in the USSR underwent a transformation. People's Commissariats became ministries, whose names were changed. Thus, the People's Commissariat of Mortar Weapons was transformed into the Ministry

agricultural engineering. It was to this structure that all the developments and production facilities associated with the Katyushas were transferred, and it continued the development of multiple launch rocket systems.

The commission at the very top informed Stalin personally of all the necessary urgent decisions. The memorandum signed by Beria, Malenkov, Bulganin, Ustinov, Yakovlev, handed over to the Generalissimo in April 1946, spoke of the need to make urgent fundamental decisions on the Soviet missile project. It explained what had been done on missile issues before the war, during the war, and what materials and information had been obtained about the German V-2 (A-4) rockets.

TTX FAU-2

The Commission proposed to speed up the project to concentrate all research, design, design work and production of missiles in one hand. Everything related to liquid fuel rockets was transferred to the Ministry of Armaments, and powder rockets were transferred to the Ministry of CX-Engineering. In the same mode, work was carried out on the Soviet atomic program. Minaviaprom was left with the task of creating jet propulsion systems only.

It is worth taking into account the environment in which rocket science began in the USSR. In December 1945, the “aviation business” began, which was associated with a serious lag in Soviet jet and long-range aviation from the United States. He was the first to be arrested Air Marshal Khudyakov, he was shot in 1950.

In February 1946, this case received a powerful development. Many senior leaders of the military aviation industry and the Air Force were subjected to repression, among them were: Minister Shakhurin, Air Force Commander Novikov, his deputy Repin, member of the military council Shimanov, head of the State Directorate of Orders Seleznev and others.

In one of the notes of the commission, which was received by Stalin's secretariat on April 20, it was proposed that in a short time, namely on April 25, a meeting on rocket science in the USSR should be held in Stalin's office. It brought together all responsible persons at the highest level, following which a resolution was adopted that gave impetus to the development of jet weapons and a missile program in the country.

In 1946, on May 4, an absentee plenum of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks was held, it decided to release Georgy Maksimilianovich Malenkov from the post of Secretary of the Central Committee in connection with the failure in the leadership of the aviation industry. Stalin appointed him chairman of the commission responsible for rocket science, gave him a chance to rehabilitate himself.

Further, the resolution of this plenum spoke of the need to create within the structure of the Ministry of the Armed Forces of the USSR (which, combining other positions, Stalin personally led) a department of jet weapons as part of the GAU, it was entrusted with the functions of a customer and supervisor of work on the production of the A-4 rocket (V- 2). Within the framework of the same ministry, it was ordered to form a research institute for rocket weapons (now it is the 4th Central Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation), the central state rocket weapons test site, which was supposed to become a test site for all types of missiles in the interests of all departments that were involved in this program, and a separate a military unit for special purposes, whose task was to maintain missiles, test them and work out issues of combat use. At the end of this resolution, it was indicated that the missile program is a paramount task that is mandatory for all bodies of the party and state administration, in fact, it was a stern warning for those officials who were not imbued with the seriousness of the missile program for the country's defense capability. Following this resolution, an order was issued by the Minister of the Armed Forces on the formation of new structures within the military department, as prescribed by the plenum of the Central Committee.

Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 1017-419ss was signed by Chairman of the Council of Ministers Stalin on May 13, 1946. To implement the decisions of the Soviet government, a special committee was created, which was entrusted with all responsibility for the implementation of rocket plans. Stalin, with his own hand, added the name of the chairman of this committee to the list, as usual, with a blue pencil, as we already know, the honor was given to Malenkov.

Major General Lev Gaidukov.

This was also a personal decision of Stalin, legally it was enshrined in GKO Decree No. 9475ss.

Decree No. 1017-419 also ordered to create a commission to select the site for the construction of the landfill. She was instructed to conduct a survey of possible areas for the location of the landfill, she had to do this work in a short time: from June 1 to August 25 - and report the results to the Generalissimo by August 30. The super-importance of this matter is already evidenced by the fact that this commission was headed by the First Deputy Minister of the USSR Armed Forces Bulganin.

Within the indicated timeframe, the commission examined eight districts, none of which was suitable for a landfill. It was decided to continue work on finding the necessary territory, as a result, the commission chose three possible options for further research - one in the South Ural military district (near the city of Uralsk) and two in the North Caucasian military district (the first - near Stalingrad, the other - near the city of Grozny in Chechnya).

The formation of the structure of the landfill began even before the choice of its location. By order No. 0347 of June 10, 1946, signed by Bulganin, Lieutenant General was appointed head of the training ground Vasily Voznyuk, who previously held the position of Deputy Commander of the Southern Group of Forces Artillery (Austria).

Colonel Leonid Polyakov became his deputy for testing jet equipment of the ground forces, and his deputy for testing missile weapons Colonel Ivan Romanov was appointed for the naval forces. Deputy for testing jet weapons for army aviation became Colonel Nikolai Mitryakov, and the Air Force test group was headed by Major General Stepan Shcherbakov. All newly appointed persons took an active part in the search for the location of the landfill.

In the order of the Minister of the Armed Forces of the USSR No. 0019 dated September 2, 1946, the organizational staffing of the training ground and its technical equipment were finally approved.

The commission, one year late from the scheduled date, was able to present the result. Only on July 26, 1947, the Council of Ministers issued a resolution on the preparation of the first launch of the A-4 (V-2) rocket and on the placement of a test site in the area the village of Kapustin Yar (near Stalingrad, within the Astrakhan region).

Among the archival documents there are maps endorsed personally by Stalin, which show the results of the reconnaissance of the territories chosen for the landfill.

Moreover, there is information that the site for the landfill was originally chosen near the village of Naurskaya (Chechnya), but this option was rejected as a result. We took into account the high density of settlements in the area of ​​the proposed location of the landfill. In addition, the Minister of Livestock Alexei Kozlov was categorically against this option, since it threatened to destroy sheep breeding in the Kalmyk steppes, where it was supposed to create an airfield for missiles.

The decision on the date of celebration of the formation of the Kapustin Yar test site was made in 1950 and it was determined to celebrate its “birthday” on May 13, according to the date of issue of Resolution No. 1017-419ss. The formation of a "special artillery unit for the development, preparation and launch of V-2 missiles" is connected with the same document. A special purpose brigade of the Reserve of the Supreme High Command (BON RVGK) was created. The command of this formation was entrusted Major General Alexander Fedorovich Tveretsky.

The official date of its formation "June 12, 1946" was determined only in 1952. In the future, the brigade was reorganized several times and finally, on the basis of those formations to which it passed organizationally, the 24th division of the Strategic Missile Forces was created, which fell under reduction in 1990 in connection with the signing of an agreement between the USSR and the USA on the reduction of INF.

THE BEGINNING OF A LONG AND HARD JOURNEY

The German V-2 was used by the winners as the basis for creating their own ballistic missiles. Photo from the German Federal Archives. 1943

The memorandum, which was received by Stalin's secretariat in December 1946, signed by Malenkov, Yakovlev, Bulganin, Ustinov and others, spoke of the completion of work on collecting and summarizing the entire range of information and materials for preparing the production of missiles.

Of the part of the assembly materials inherited by the USSR, 23 missiles were fully equipped, and another 17 remained understaffed. The transportation of parts, materials, laboratory testing and production equipment to the Soviet Union was organized. At the same time, in order to continue the work begun in Germany, 308 German specialists arrived in the USSR, who were distributed among the relevant ministries and began to work. About 100 of them were sent to the 88th plant (NII-88). Subsequently, they were transported to the island of Gorodomlya, which is on Lake Seliger, where branch No. 1 of NII-88 was located. In total, about 350 German specialists were taken from Germany to the Union from Germany to organize design work, production and testing of missiles. Of these, 13 people participated in the first launch of the A-4 at the Kapustin Yar test site. By that time, work on rocket technology was already being carried out on the territory of the USSR in the corresponding design bureaus and research institutes. Most of the then existing sectoral ministries and interested departments and institutions of the Ministry of the Armed Forces participated in the program.

By the beginning of the tests in Germany, the first batch of 10 A-4 missiles was assembled with the involvement of German specialists. Another batch of 13 missiles was assembled in Podlipki near Moscow at the 88th plant of the Ministry of Armaments.

The organization of the production of missiles in the USSR was slipping. For example, in Germany in 1944, an average of 345 missiles were produced per month (4140 per year). In 1945: in January - 700, in February - 616, in March - 490. Our industry failed to reach the production capacity of the missiles of the Third Reich.

Even the Yuzhmash plant, the largest in the post-war period (located in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR, in 1951, by order of the Minister of the USSR Armed Forces, the plant was assigned the number 586 and the open name of PO Box 186), at the planning level, it had the task of producing only 2 thousand missiles per year, but this task was not completed.

By the way, as a result of its work, the special committee (or committee No. 2) came to the conclusion that they would have to copy the entire complex German production structure, otherwise nothing would work. In the Third Reich, factories located not only in Germany, but also in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and other countries participated in it, by cooperation. In 1946, the task was set to establish the production of the V-2 entirely from domestic components (a kind of import substitution program), but this task was not completed either by 1949 or by 1950. Back in 1947, Stalin removed Malenkov from overseeing the rocket program due to his inability to manage this complex problem, Bulganin took his place.

In 1948, the first test of the R-1 rocket was made, which was not fully assembled, but mainly from domestic components. The main problem was that the domestic chemical industry could not produce rubber products: pipes, gaskets, cuffs and other components of the required strength. This snag was overcome only in 1950. The next R-2 rocket was already produced entirely from its own materials.

POLYGON

For the first time, personnel began to arrive at Kapustin Yar only in August 1947. Two echelons arrived in September. One came from Germany (with special rocket and telemetry equipment), the other from Podlipki with materials and equipment for the test site.

The construction of the test site started on August 20, 1947. They worked tirelessly. The “founding father” and the permanent head of the landfill for the next 27 years, Vasily Voznyuk, said this: “We have an 8-hour working day at the landfill: eight hours before lunch and eight hours after.” First of all, they built: a test complex, launch pads. A system for monitoring the flight path of missiles was hastily created.

People first lived in tents, wagons and dugouts. In two months, by the end of September, the necessary facilities were built to start testing: a starting position with a bunker, an assembly and test building, a fuel depot, a bridge, a highway, 20 km of railway tracks (from Stalingrad to Kapustin Yar), headquarters and other office buildings. At the same time, the missile impact fields were marked and fenced off, measuring points were installed to monitor the flight path, the amount of work was enormous. When the polygon facilities of the first stage were erected, the construction of residential prefabricated panel houses began.

On October 1, 1947, Lieutenant General Voznyuk reported to Moscow that the test site was ready for the start of testing. Two weeks later (October 14), a group of designers led by Korolev arrived at Kapustin Yar (to manage the first launch) and the first batch of A-4 rockets was delivered.

And already on October 18, 1947, at 10:47 Moscow time, the first launch of a ballistic missile in the Soviet Union was made. Its flight parameters were as follows: highest elevation - 86 km, flight range - 274 km, evasion from the flight director - 30 km (to the left). According to the conclusion of the special commission, the first launch was successful.

The first Soviet ballistic missile R-1 was launched on October 10, 1948. This launch opened the rocket and space era of our fatherland.

In the future, Soviet designers, having received significantly less materials and documents about German rockets than the Americans, in the shortest possible time managed to overtake their overseas counterparts both in rocket science and in the exploration of near-Earth space.

Between 1947 and 1957, Kapustin Yar was the only test site in the USSR where ballistic missiles were tested. It tested most types of missiles from R-1 to R-14, Burya, RSD-10, Scud, many other short and medium-range missiles, cruise missiles and air defense systems.

The system for testing and preparing missiles for launch, which was developed at that time, is still in use. At the same time, it was determined that it was not advisable to conduct separate tests by industry and the military, and they decided to combine these processes.

In the early 1950s, in addition to the active program of rocket launches, the development and formation of the test base of the range was going on, new technical and launch complexes were being built. On February 20, 1956, missile tests took place at the test site. nuclear weapons. Started from here rocket R-5 was equipped with a nuclear warhead and delivered it to the Astrakhan steppe, where a nuclear explosion thundered in the desert.

In the future, new intercontinental ballistic missiles were tested here more than once.

According to the data open today, starting from the 50s of the last century, at least 11 nuclear tests were carried out at the Kapustin Yar test site (nuclear explosions were carried out at an altitude of 300 m to 5.5 km), and the total power of the exploded devices was approximately 65 atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima.

COSMODROME

At the end of 1949, at the Kapustin Yar training ground, a joint group of the Academy of Artillery Sciences of the Ministry of the Armed Forces and the Institute of Aviation Medicine under the general supervision of Lieutenant General A.A. Blagonravova began preparations for conducting promising research projects, the plan of which provided for experiments that determine the possibility of launching into space and returning animals back.

At the first stage, it was decided to carry out eight launches of missiles with biological materials on board. The experiments were carried out on dogs, rats, Drosophila flies and later on monkeys. Thus began preparations for manned space flights. On September 4, 1951, Anatoly Blagonravov, Chairman of the Missile Launch Commission, reported to Moscow that in the period from July 22 to September 3, six vertical launches of R-1V missiles to a height of up to 100 km were carried out.

Specifications R-1V

starting weight
Unfilled rocket weight
engine thrust
Specific impulse
Working hours
Fuel components
Fuel mass
Payload weight
Mass of salvageable warhead
Mass of the GeoFIAN container to be rescued
Mass of the salvaged rocket body
Length (full)
Case diameter
Max Diameter
Stabilizer span
Speed ​​at engine shutdown
lifting height

The preparation and implementation of these tests were carried out with the participation of the Physical and Geophysical Institutes of the Academy of Sciences, the State Optical Institute of the Ministry of Armaments, the Ministry of Light Industry and the Research Institute of Aviation Materials. Rockets and complexes of vehicles launched into space have fulfilled their purpose. A number of data were obtained on the state of primary cosmic radiation and on the processes of interaction of primary cosmic particles, atmospheric pressure was measured at altitudes up to 100 km, the air composition at altitudes of 70-80 km was determined, data on the speed and direction of movement of atmospheric layers at altitudes up to 80 km, the wing model was tested at high altitudes and the friction force at supersonic speed was also determined there.

The same document reported: “The survival of animals at altitudes up to 100 km, without disruption of physiological functions, has been proven; in four cases out of six, experimental animals were delivered to the ground without any damage.” The first astronaut dogs to return alive from space were Dezik and Gypsy.

In the future, Sergei Korolev distributed their offspring to his friends.

A decade later, in 1962, the R-12 rocket was decided to be used as a carrier for spacecraft launched into low orbits. On March 16, 1962, the first small research satellite Kosmos-1 was launched into the Earth's orbit. The launch of the Interkosmos-1 satellite took place on October 14, 1969.

Kapustin Yar was used as a launch site for satellites international program Interkosmos until 1988. In parallel, spacecraft for military and national economic purposes were launched from it. But in reports about launches in print and in official documents Kapustin Yar has never been called a cosmodrome. Also, the purpose of the satellites was never covered. It was simply informed that another space satellite with such and such a serial number was launched. Only specialists distinguished meteorological, television or radio broadcasting from reconnaissance spacecraft.

Field Academy of Missile Forces

Kapustin Yar has been used from its first days to the present not only as a training ground, but also as a training center. It is rightly called a field academy for rocket scientists. You can get a permit for military service only there. The subdivision arrives at Kapustin Yar, receives equipment from the industry, performs comprehensive checks of this equipment, passes a test for admission to independent work with her. And at the end of the process, it conducts a combat-scientific launch, and only after that it is introduced into the combat structure of the missile forces. All graduates of military schools underwent military training and training in Kapustin Yar.

Much attention was paid to the development normative documents based on the generalized experience gained at the test site. Instructions for launching missiles, instruction for marches, operation of equipment in difficult climatic conditions winters and summers - all this was practiced in Kapustin Yar. The entire unique complex: Kapustin Yar - Balkhash contributes to the excellent results of such work.

CHRONICLES OF KAPUSTIN YAR

By the mid-1950s, the infrastructure of Kapustin Yar met the tasks assigned to it. In the future, with the expansion of the scope of these tasks, the test site itself was improved. In 1959, on December 12, the first launch of the R-17 rocket was made. The R-12 and R-14 missiles tested on it in those years played a role in the Caribbean crisis. In 1962, by decision of the Soviet leadership, 36 R-12 and 24 R14 missiles were delivered to Cuba during Operation Anadyr.

After these events, the Americans moderated their arrogance and switched from aggressive actions against the USSR to dialogue. Moreover, a telephone cable was laid from the White House to the Kremlin for emergency communications.

In the 60s, RT-1, RT-2, RT-15 missiles were tested there, complex TEMP. Launches of target missiles for testing the A-35 missile defense system were carried out at the Sary Shagan training ground.

Tactical and technical characteristics of Temp-2S

In the 70s, the RSD-10 was tested. But the main attention was focused on operational-tactical missiles: Luna, Tochka, Vulkan. Separate elements of ICBMs were also tested, primarily to determine their aerodynamic and ballistic characteristics.

In 1988, RSD-10 solid-propellant missiles were liquidated at the test site in accordance with the INF Treaty, signed a year earlier between the USSR and the USA. The work was carried out under the supervision of American inspectors.

The performance characteristics of the RSD-10 "Pioneer"

Mobile ground missile system "Pioneer"
Developer
Chief designer	HELL. Nadiradze
Rocket manufacturer	Votkinsk MZ
	SS-20 Saber Mod 1&2
Name according to RIAC
Complex type	Mobile missile system with medium-range ballistic missiles, third generation
State
Rocket "15Zh45"
Firing range, km
Firing accuracy (KVO), km	0.55 (maximum deviation - 1.3)
	Monoblock thermonuclear (on tests - option 1)
	MIRV with three warheads IN (option 2)
Charge power (option 1), Mt
Charge power (option 2), Mt
MS weight, kg
Control system	Inertial with a gyro-stabilized platform based on float gyro devices, with an on-board computer
Control system developer
Chief designer of the control system	ON THE. Pilyugin
Steering gears	hydraulic
Steering gear developer
1st stage controls	Gas and aerodynamic lattice rudders, lattice stabilizers
2nd stage controls	In pitch and yaw - blowing hot gases into the supercritical part of the nozzle; on a roll - gas nozzles with a gas generator
Start type	"Mortar" from TPK
Number of steps
Full length of the rocket, m
Missile length without warhead, m
Rocket length in TPK, m
Maximum hull diameter, m
Starting weight, t
Rocket weight in TPK, t
	Mixed solid
First stage
Full length of the first stage, m
Maximum diameter of the first stage hull, m
Step weight, kg
Engine	Single chamber solid propellant rocket motor
Engine developer	NPO Soyuz (Lyubertsy)
Chief Engine Designer	B.P. Zhukov
Number of nozzles
Working time, s
Second step
Total length of the second stage, m
Maximum diameter of the hull of the second stage, m
Step weight, kg
Engine	Single chamber solid propellant rocket motor
Engine developer	NPO Soyuz (Lyubertsy)
Chief Engine Designer	B.P. Zhukov
Number of nozzles
Combat stage
Number of warheads
Propulsion system	four solid propellant rocket engines
Warhead
Full length of warhead, m
Maximum diameter of the warhead body, m
Tip radius
Launcher
	Ground mobile
Developer	Central Design Bureau "Titan"
Manufacturer	plant "Barricades"
Chief designer	V.P. barmin
Width, m
Height, m
Number of missiles on the launcher
Type of TPK lifting drive with rocket	Hydraulic
Developer of the TPK lifting drive with a rocket
Turning radius, m
Crew, people
Vehicle-loading vehicle (TPS)
Developer	Central Design Bureau "Titan"
Manufacturer	Plant "Barricades"
Number of axles
Full length, m
Width, m
Height, m
Engine
Power, hp
Maximum speed, km/h
Number of missiles on TPS
Crew, people

This PRGC had nothing like it, not even close, in the entire world.

Starting and technical positions were mothballed, although they were left in working order. For the next 10 years they were not used.

In the 1990s, there was a massive reduction in funding for all items of rocket construction. The management of the landfill fought for each of its units, trying to protect them from reduction. Tests continued in a truncated form, but they were purely exploratory in nature, a kind of reserve for the future. Thanks to them, further created Topol-M missile system.

In October 1998, Kapustin Yar received the name "4th State Central Interspecific Range of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation" (4 GTsMP). In the same year, for the first time after a long break, rocket launches were resumed from it to launch satellites into low orbits. Since the beginning of the new century, the following have been tested on it: the S-400 air defense system, the RT-2PM missiles of the Topol complex, the RS-12M Topol ICBM, the RS-26 Rubezh, and the Iskander-M OTRK.

Now Kapustin Yar works in the interests of the Ground Forces, the Aerospace Forces, the Navy and the Strategic Missile Forces.

I have long been asked to write about the Kapustin Yar test site. And show, of course. Because the information on the wiki ... is understandable. Today I will try to be brief and just the facts. In general, place all requests and suggestions in the top post - then I will certainly not miss it. Because the mail could not stand it anymore and collapsed.
Kapustin Yar is mentioned in the short story "Cradle in Orbit" by Arthur C. Clarke. One of the key missions computer game UFO: Aftermath is a task to find documents in an underground base located at the Kapustin Yar training ground.
From the messages of former CIA employees:“Atmospheric tests in the north-east of Siberia. In February 1956, radioactive isotopes were discovered, confirming a series of tests at this time.”
Today Kapustin Yar is the 4th State Central Interspecific Range of Russia. Designed for launching combat ballistic missiles, geophysical and meteorological missiles, as well as space objects of small mass. Under Gorbachev, it fell into disrepair. However, like everything in the country. Now it is slowly coming to life. Truth and fiction about nuclear tests under the photo.

It is necessary to start the story about the history of the landfill from the distant 1945 , when the victory over Germany made available to Soviet specialists the remains of the outstanding rocket technology of the team of Werner von Braun, who himself, together with the most significant part of the development team and scientists, total strength about 400 people, ended up in the hands of the US military and continued his work already in the USA.

All the most valuable things from factories, testing and research centers, including several dozen assembled V-2 rockets, almost all special test equipment and documentation had already been taken to the United States, when the first Soviet intelligence officers and specialists. Collecting the remnants of the German team and documentation, shaking the wastebaskets of research centers, the specialists nevertheless managed to collect enough material in order to reproduce the design of the V-1 and V-2 rockets.

In the USSR, a number of research institutes and design bureaus were urgently formed, which came to grips with solving this problem. There is a need to create a specialized testing ground for research and testing.

In May 1946, a month after the Americans made the first launch of the A-4 exported from Germany at their White Sands test site in New Mexico, it was decided to create such a test site in the USSR and Major General Vasily Ivanovich Voznyuk, who was tasked with leading the search for a site suitable for the construction of the landfill, set to work. The place was chosen from seven options. As a result, the areas near Volgograd, near the village of Kapustin Yar in the Astrakhan region (which later gave the name to the new landfill) and the village of Naurskaya in the Grozny region, were recognized as the most suitable.

Kapustin Yar

On October 14, 1969, the Interkosmos-1 satellite, created by specialists from the socialist countries, was launched from the Kapustin Yar test site. The Indian satellites Ariabhata and Bhaskara, the French satellite Sneg-3, also went into flight from the now international cosmodrome. Kapustin Yar played an important role in the training of qualified cadres of rocket and space technology testers and leading cadres for new cosmodromes. The Kapustin Yar cosmodrome assumed the role of a cosmodrome for "small" rockets and "small" research satellites of the Earth. This specialization continued until 1988, when the need for launches of such satellites was sharply reduced and space launches from the Kapustin Yar cosmodrome were discontinued. In addition, the agreement signed in 1987 on the reduction of SRS missiles led to an almost complete cessation of test work at the test site. Starting and technical positions were mothballed for about 10 years, but were constantly maintained in working order. The last known test launch was made on June 22, 1988. This was the sixth and last flight of the BOR-5 project.

In 1998, the long-awaited revival of the test site and the cosmodrome began. After many years of inactivity, a commercial launch of the Cosmos 11K65M carrier rocket was carried out from the cosmodrome, carrying a French satellite as an additional load, and on April 28, 1999, the ABRIXAS and Megsat-0 satellites were launched.

Test work has also resumed. Ideas for an interspecies testing ground have finally come to fruition. In 1999, test sites from Emba and Sary-Shagan were relocated to the site.

Monument to our first R-1.
Whatever the surname is a separate glorious story.


Entertainment nearby is appropriate. It's called Orbit. Znamensk.


Exhibition of tested equipment



And the surroundings are beautiful.
The photo is bad, but the fish is good!

The village in which the pioneers began to live has not changed much. Unless plates appeared on the houses, and cars in the yards.

The steppes are lavishly strewn with missile nose fairings, burnt-out sustainer engines, ejection seats...

Video - briefly about KapYar from the first days to the present day.

In 1954, another “site” “4N” appeared at the test missile range No. 4 (Kapustin Yar). The regime of special secrecy adopted by the military and extended to “4N” surpassed even what existed at the “objects” of S.P. Queen. Not only the “platform”, but also the very fact of its existence was kept secret. The buildings, surrounded by a high fence and rows of barbed wire, were guarded by a state security unit that was not subordinate to the command of the training ground. Only two of the huge army of industrialists, developers, officers of technical and other services had special passes to the territory of a specially protected facility - the chief designer of OKB-1 S.P. Korolev and the head of training ground No. 4, General V.I. Voznyuk.

That year, Korolev began the third series of tests of his new R-5 rocket. The CHIEF at the “4N” site was Alexander Petrovich Pavlov, an engineer of a secret atomic design bureau. A small group of specialists worked with him, which was engaged in the preparation of nuclear charge automation for testing. It was important to establish how very sensitive automatic devices would behave during the launch and flight of a rocket, how vibrations, overloads, and aerodynamic heating could affect them.

The complexity of the design was exacerbated by the complexity of the processes that took place when it was triggered. The problem was that reliable guarantees were required that a nuclear charge would be detonated in the air above a certain “point” of the nuclear test site, that the rocket would not deviate from the set course, that nothing out of the ordinary would happen at the start. Otherwise, the tests could turn into a terrible tragedy.

In the head part of the rocket, where the nuclear charge should be located, a massive blank was fastened - a steel plate with detonators mounted on it. The direction of the fall was taken, a special team was urgently sent there, the slab was removed from the ground, wrapped in a tarpaulin and taken away to “4N”. There, it was carefully cleaned from the ground, washed with alcohol and lubricated with gun oil so that it would not rust. Following this, the decoding of “traces” from detonator explosions began. By the type of scratches, depressions, notches, the clarity of the automation was determined. In the summer of 1955, as already mentioned, Korolev began testing a modernized version of the R-5 rocket. She had the index "M" (R-5M) and a more advanced, and therefore, accurate, control system. Until January 1956, twenty-eight launches were made. Of all the missiles, one exploded on the active leg of the flight, there were several undershoots, and a deviation from the calculated trajectory was recorded twice. By established standards, such a result could well be considered a credit, but Korolev and Pavlov were cautious. A test launch was scheduled for January 11. He passed without comment. The mood of Pavlov and his colleagues was upbeat. Korolev looked different.

Not only nuclear physicists solve complex problems, - he began philosophically. - There are also problem books for testers. In these descriptions, various critical situations, “beans” are analyzed in detail ... Dear Alexander Petrovich, we need not emotions, but concrete results. We strive for them...

Well, this is probably so, - Pavlov agreed. - But will we report to Moscow? - Korolev chuckled: - If you have no doubts, we will report.

The hour of nuclear missile testing, full-scale and unconditional, was approaching.

In early February, the State Commission arrived in Kapustin Yar. It was headed by General P. M. Zernov, the first head of the atomic KB-11 (Arzamas-16). Other “fathers” of the atomic bomb flew with him. The eldest from the civilians was D.F. Ustinov, from the military - Marshal M.I. Nedelin. The commission also included six chief designers of the “five”: S.P. Korolev, V.P. Glushko, N.A. Pilyugin, V.I. Kuznetsov, M.S. Ryazansky and V.P. Barmin. And, as expected, - the head of the training ground V.I. Voznyuk

A few days before the start, Marshal G.K. flew to Kapyar. Zhukov, took an interest in the course of affairs and departed for Moscow. After his departure, a group of chief designers turned to Zernov with a request to show them a nuclear device. According to the regulation on the state commission, each of its members signing the test report must know the "device and characteristics of the product."

A natural, in general, situation, - said a member of the commission from KB-II, the future general and academician E.A. Negin.- But I had to call Moscow. Everything that appeared to the eyes of the rocket men crossed out their idea of ​​​​the atomic bomb. In a brightly lit screened room, on a special stand, lay something shiny and spherical, not to say very large, but still ...

All the pre-launch days, Korolev did not leave the assembly and test building, where the rocket was being prepared. I do not leave him with an oppressive feeling of tension, anxiety, fear of missing something.

The “Five” was taken to the start, installed, refueling took place - everything was on schedule. Suddenly, Zernov canceled the launch: "We'll postpone it for a day or two."

The Queen's first thought is something with a nuclear charge. He was completely exhausted, lost sleep, walked gloomy, mine. Fortunately, everything turned out to be easier. In the area of ​​the nuclear test site, the weather deteriorated sharply.

The main day was February 20th. Korolev, Pavlov and Pilyugin descended into the bunker. The starting team was led by L.A. Voskresensky - Deputy Queen for testing. He took a seat at the periscope and gave commands.

The engines went into mode, and the roar intensified. In the dungeon, he gave off a vibration. Then the sound began to subside.

“Gone,” Voskresensky confirmed, not looking up from the eyepieces.

The hum ended as suddenly as it began. There was silence. Pulling, tense. Korolev fixed his eyes on the telephones on the operator's desk. They were silent.

The ballisticians were very afraid that the rocket would deviate from the given trajectory, - said the State Prize winner Professor R.F. Appazov. - This happened ... In order to blow up a rocket in a timely manner, they created a special system with a ground point PAPR (point for emergency detonation of a rocket). It was located a few kilometers from the start, strictly along the alignment, i.e. in the plane of the rocket. A cinema theodolite was installed there. It was necessary to track the flight and, in case of dangerous deviations to the right or left, press the button ... The measuring tool is imperfect, you look, but you keep the control numbers in your mind and count. There was a telephone on the PAPR that was connected to the bunker. In which case it was necessary to transmit the coded word "Ivanhoe". Voskresensky was supposed to press the button on this signal. And we - in the duty "gazik" and run away. On that day everything was fine...

The bunker was still quiet. Only telemetry data sounded muffled over the intercom. Korolev sat motionless: "Ivanhoe" is silent, which means ... "

He covered his eyes with his hands and counted to himself just to distract himself. The buzzer of the telephone made him flinch. Korolyov grabbed the receiver and pressed it to his ear.

Watched "Baikal", - a distant voice croaked. - I repeat: we observed “Baikal”. It was also a conditional cipher. It meant that the rocket reached the test site and the explosion occurred over a given point. Korolev stood up, shrugged his shoulders, throwing off the heavy burden of waiting.

It's hot in here, open the doors... Everything seems to work out.

The sky was cold and transparent. The snow sparkled and blinded the eyes, crunched loudly underfoot, as if angry with people. Despite the frost that burns the face, at this early hour, a revival reigned at the distant Volga training ground. This is always the case after a successful launch. Something more happened at that time. In fact, few knew about it.

IN NOVEMBER 1957, at a military parade in honor of the next anniversary of the October Revolution, several elongated missiles with pointed nose fairings proceeded across Red Square. It was carried by the secret R-5M, adopted for service. The military attachés present at the parade that evening handed over ciphers: “The Russians have new nuclear missiles.”
It happens at the range and such. Fire! The radio is on fire! Kapustin Yar. 2008:

Polygon Kapustin Yar ( or abbreviated Kapyar) is part of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation as the 4th State Central Interspecific Range (4th GTsMP), being one of the oldest and most famous Russian missile ranges. It was from the Kapustin Yar training ground that the history of the creation of the Soviet strategic missile shield began. It is rightly called "the cradle of the Strategic Missile Forces."

Kapustin Yar is not only a missile range, but also the largest testing and research center, as well as a cosmodrome. Despite the fact that initially this object was created for purely military purposes, it is difficult to overestimate its importance for civil cosmonautics - both Soviet and modern Russian.

In this article, we will touch upon the history of the creation of the Kapustin Yar test site and the most significant events associated with it, as well as consider the current state of the test site: its purpose, characteristics, deployed units and subdivisions.

HISTORY OF THE POLYGON KAPUSTIN YAR

The creation of the nuclear missile shield of the USSR began immediately after the end of the Great Patriotic War. The victory over Nazi Germany gave Soviet specialists access to part of the rocket technology of German scientists led by Wernher von Braun, who, together with a group of developers and designers, ended up in the zone of occupation by the American military and agreed to continue their work in the United States.

When advanced Soviet units appeared on the ruins of the Third Reich missile center near the town of Peenemünde, all the most valuable equipment, including several dozen ready-made V-2 rockets, had already been captured by the Americans and taken to the United States. Nevertheless, the remnants of the technical documentation provided Soviet specialists with enough information to reproduce the design of the V-1 and V-2 rockets. In the USSR, several research institutes and design bureaus were urgently formed, which came to grips with solving this problem.

The USSR had just ended the war, having experienced terrible destruction. It was impossible to allow the loss of military parity with the West. Any lag behind the United States in the field of nuclear weapons and their means of delivery threatened to lose the state's defense capability. For research and testing of missile weapons, it was necessary to create a specialized training ground.

The history of the missile range, and then the Kapustin Yar cosmodrome, began in May 1946, when a resolution was adopted by the Council of Ministers of the USSR on the creation of a whole network of design bureaus and institutions focused on the accelerated creation of strategic missile weapons. And for its testing, it was decided to create a specialized training ground.

A group of specialists examined seven promising areas and, in the end, a flat place near the village of Kapustin Yar, Astrakhan Region, was chosen for the deployment of an important strategic facility.

The decision to build a landfill in Kapustin Yar was made by a joint resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Council of Ministers of the USSR on June 3, 1947. Given the importance of this facility, the management of the construction of the landfill was entrusted to the State Commission, whose chairman was appointed People's Commissar and Minister of Armaments of the USSR Ustinov Dmitry Fedorovich; The commission included Chief of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces Marshal of the Soviet Union A.M. Vasilevsky, Chief Marshals of Artillery N.N. Voronov, M.I. Nedelin, Marshal of Artillery N.D. Yakovlev and others. The construction was headed by Marshal of Engineering Troops M.P. Vorobyov.

The first head of the Soviet missile range was appointed Guard Lieutenant General (later - Guard Colonel General) artillery V.I. Vozniuk. The personality of this man, who is rightly called the "founding father" of the landfill, should be discussed in more detail.

Vasily Ivanovich Voznyuk was born on December 20, 1906 (January 1, 1907 according to the new style) in a family of actors of the Kharkov Drama Theater. In his youth, he managed to work as a prompter, stagehand, sailor, but since 1925 he has connected his life with the armed forces, having entered the 1st Leningrad Artillery School named after Red October. From 1929 to 1937, he successively went through the steps of a service career in the 30th artillery regiment: from a platoon commander to the regiment's chief of staff and the acting regiment commander. In 1938-1939. teaches at the Penza Artillery School, at the same time acting as the division commander of this school.

From the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he was at the front: first as chief of staff of the 7th anti-tank brigade, then as chief of the operational department of the artillery headquarters of the 13th army. One must think that during the time of service in these positions, V.I. Voznyuk earned the exclusive trust of the command, so all his further service during the Second World War was connected with the BM-13 Guards mortar units, the famous Katyushas, ​​which at that time were one of the newest and most formidable types of weapons of the Red Army. He served as chief of staff of guards mortar units of various fronts, from 1944 to June 1945 - deputy commander of artillery of the 3rd Ukrainian Front for guards mortar units, and then - deputy commander for guards mortar units of artillery commander of the Southern Group of Forces (Austria).

Being the permanent head of the Kapustin Yar test site for 27 years, V.I. Wozniuk achieved its transformation into the largest testing and research center. Former subordinates remember him as a strict commander, a tireless builder, the true owner of the landfill. Vozniuk did not consider personal time when it came to the interests of the service, and demanded the same from his subordinates. There was a lot of work, including night work. Vasily Ivanovich liked to answer the complaints of the landfill employees about irregular working hours: “We have an eight-hour working day at the landfill: eight hours before lunch and eight hours after.”

Nevertheless, the “founding father” of the test site took care not only of missiles, but also of the city of Znamensk, the administrative center of the test site. The servicemen of KapYar and their families lived here. Built on waste salt marshes, the city stood out in lush greenery. All residents, from schoolchildren to military personnel, participated in the struggle for landscaping. Improvement competitions were unfolding between quarters and yards. Vozniuk personally walked around the streets and yards, checked their condition, and communicated with residents. All suggestions and wishes were recorded by the adjutant on record, and subsequently found implementation. For Vasily Ivanovich there were no trifles. The needs of people, their way of life, were no less important to him than rocket tests.

The "founding father" of the Kapustin Yar test site retired in 1973, three years before his death. In accordance with the will of V.I. Voznyuk, he is buried in the city of Znamensk. And all his awards were transferred to the museum of Dnepropetrovsk, where V.I. Vozniuk.

But let's get back to the history of the polygon.

The construction of the Kapustin Yar test site began on August 20, 1947. The test site was intended for test launches of the first combat ballistic missiles, the launch of geophysical and meteorological satellites, as well as space objects of small mass.

The first officers arrived at the construction site of the landfill in August 1947. And already in September, a special-purpose brigade of the Reserve of the Supreme High Command was sent there under the command of Major General of Artillery A.F. Tveretsky, which delivered two special trains with special missile and telemetry equipment from Germany.

Already by the beginning of October 1947, in addition to the concrete test bench, a launch pad with a bunker, a temporary technical position, an assembly building, a bridge, and a warehouse for rocket fuel were built. Subsequently, a highway and a 20-kilometer railway line were built connecting the test site with the main highway to Stalingrad (now the city of Volgograd).

Living at the training ground, especially at first, was incredibly difficult. They built a lot, but the military personnel and builders themselves had to live in the bare steppe in tents and dugouts, some were quartered in the huts of the village of Kapustin Yar. The management of the landfill was housed in a special train. It was necessary to prepare the test site for missile testing as soon as possible, and there was simply no time left for housing construction. The first living quarters for the personnel of the test site began to be built only in 1948.

October 1, 1947 in Moscow V.I. Voznyuk reported to the country's leadership about the readiness of the test site for testing, and after 2 weeks, on October 14, 1947, the first batch of A-4 (V-2) missiles was delivered to the test site and a group of designers headed by S.P. Korolev.

On October 18, 1947, under the leadership of Korolev, at 10:47 Moscow time, the first launch of a ballistic missile in the USSR was made. She rose to a height of 86 kilometers and fell in the target area 274 kilometers from the start, deviating to the left of the headmistress by 30 kilometers. The target was considered a square measuring 40 by 40 km, so the tests were successful.

A year later, on October 10, 1948, the first Russian-made ballistic missile R-1, launched from the Kapustin Yar test site, opened the rocket and space era in the USSR. The successes of Soviet designers made it possible in the shortest possible time to create rocket weapons for the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union. For a whole 10 years (from 1947 to 1957) Kapustin Yar became the only test site for Soviet ballistic missiles. At the test site, missiles from R-1 to R-14 were tested, intercontinental missile Burya, the last Cold War missile, the RSD-10, the Scud missile, a host of other short and medium-range missiles, cruise missiles, air defense systems and missiles.

At the same time, KapYar began to be used as a launch site for geophysical and then meteorological rockets. In June 1951, the first series of rocket launches with dogs on board took place here.

However, the main purpose of the range was to test combat missile systems. On February 20, 1956, a nuclear missile test was carried out at the Kapustin Yar test site: the R-5 rocket delivered a warhead to a given area of ​​the Astrakhan steppe, where a nuclear explosion occurred. In the early 50s, along with test launches of missiles, the formation and development of the test base of the range continued. Starting and technical complexes are being built. In September 1958, single and group launches of all available types of missiles were carried out from the test site. The arriving leadership of the USSR was shown the advantages of the centralized use of missile weapons. The result was the adoption of a historic decision to create the Strategic Missile Forces.

In subsequent years, a large number of various short and medium-range missiles, cruise missiles, air defense systems and missiles were tested at the test site. From the beginning of the 1950s at least 11 airborne nuclear explosions were carried out at the Kapustin Yar test site at altitudes from 300 m to 5 km.

In the early 60s, medium-range missiles were tested at the test site: R-14 and its silo version R-12, which formed the basis of the country's missile shield in the 1960s-1980s. For testing the R-12 rocket, the Kapustin Yar test site was awarded the Order of the Red Star.

Since the beginning of the 1960s, another area no less important than testing rocket weapons has been space exploration. In the shortest possible time, the personnel of the test site mastered the technology for preparing the launch of spacecraft. The Kapustin Yar range received the functions of the cosmodrome on March 16, 1962 - on this day the first small research satellite Kosmos-1 was launched into the Earth's orbit, which marked the beginning of serial launches.

On October 14, 1969, the Interkosmos-1 satellite, created by specialists from the socialist countries, was launched, and the Kapustin Yar cosmodrome acquired international status. Indian satellites "Ariabhata" and "Bhaskara", French - "Sneg-3" went into flight from its launch pads.

For two decades, the Kapustin Yar cosmodrome became the launch site for "small" satellites for scientific and national economic purposes. With the construction of specialized test sites for launching such satellites, the need for such launches gradually decreased, and in 1988 they were discontinued from the launch complexes of the Kapustin Yar cosmodrome.

In connection with the signing in 1987 of an agreement on the reduction of IRM missiles, test work was almost completely stopped at the test site. Starting and technical positions were mothballed, although they were left in working order. For the next 10 years they were not used.

Perestroika and the chaos of the 90s led to a significant reduction in the amount of testing work at the site. For the KapYar command in this difficult period, the main thing was to preserve the unique personnel of missile system testers. The management of the landfill "fought" for each of its units, trying to protect them from reduction. After all, then it would be very difficult to restore the lost.

The revival of the test site and the cosmodrome began in October 1998, when the 4th State Central Test Site was transformed into the 4th State Central Interspecific Test Site (4 GTsMP).

Testing of new models of rocket technology for various purposes was resumed at the test site (in 1999, the Emba and Sary-Shagan test sites were relocated to Kapustin Yar).

After many years of inactivity, in 1998 a commercial launch of the Kosmos 11K65M carrier rocket was carried out from the cosmodrome, which put a French satellite into orbit, and in 1999 two more research satellites were launched under international cooperation programs.

With the beginning of the 21st century, the Kapustin Yar training ground again became in demand for military purposes.

In particular, repeated tests of the S-400 Triumph air defense system took place at the training ground. On July 12-13, 2007, two targets were successfully hit: one at a speed of 2800 m / s, and the second at an altitude of 16 km. On March 2, 2015, during live firing using S-400 air defense systems, target missiles imitating modern air attack weapons were also successfully hit.

In 2005, the training launch of the RT-2PM rocket of the Topol complex was successfully carried out from the Kapustin Yar test site, in March 2014 the RS-12M Topol ICBM was launched, and on March 26, 2015, information appeared in the media about the successful test launch of a small-sized ICBM with increased firing accuracy RS-26 "Rubezh".

In 2007, the R-500 cruise missile for the Iskander-K OTRK was tested at the test site. And in October 2011, tests of the Iskander-M OTRK took place.

At the beginning of 2015, representatives of the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the forthcoming testing of combat robotic systems for the Strategic Missile Forces at the test site. In this regard, one of the final stages of the preparatory work is being carried out, which consists in the modernization of the KaPYar data transmission system, which will create a single information space for the test site. It is planned to test mobile and stationary combat robotic systems responsible for the remotely controlled deployment of unmasking and signaling means, such as various beacons and sensors.

© Material prepared for the portal " modern army"http://www.website

STRUCTURE AND TASKS OF THE POLYGON TODAY

The Kapustin Yar test site is located on the territory of the Astrakhan region, near the village of Kapustin Yar in the lower reaches of the Volga. The area of ​​the Kapustin Yar test site is 650 sq. km. Part of the territory of the landfill is located on the territory of Kazakhstan.

The administrative and residential center of the polygon is the city Znamensk with a population of about 32 thousand people. The city is a closed administrative-territorial entity (ZATO). Initially, the town where the military lived was built up with Finnish houses, capital buildings appeared from 1951. Until 1962, it was simply called Kapustin Yar-1, and Znamensk received the status of a city and its current name on January 11, 1962. Since that time, the city has been intensive construction of residential buildings and infrastructure facilities has begun. The city received the status of ZATO on July 14, 1992.

At present, the Kapustin Yar test site faces a number of complex and important tasks that determine its prospects. This is:

• testing of new measuring complexes based on space technologies;
• formation of a control and measuring base for carrying out docking and adjustment work of strategic missile systems;
• testing of aerospace defense systems;
• testing of missile defense systems;
• testing of new complexes and missiles for operational-tactical purposes;
• participation in conducting large-scale combined-arms exercises with live firing (one of the new tasks that were not previously characteristic of the training ground).

At present, there are four main weapons research and testing units in the structure of the Kapustin Yar test site and military equipment: Strategic Missile Forces, Air Defense of the Air Force, Air Defense of the Ground Forces and Missile Forces and Artillery. The main element of the test site is the experimental test base, which includes command posts, technical starting positions, measuring equipment and other components.

The following military units are deployed on the territory of the Kapustin Yar training ground:

• military unit 10837 - logistics base;
• military unit 15644 - 4th State Red Banner Order of the Red Star, central interspecific training ground of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation;
• military unit 15646 - 261st scientific and testing center;
• military unit 15683 - support division;
• military unit 21065 - 788th Research and Testing Center for Armament and Military Equipment of the Strategic Missile Forces;
• military unit 29139 - 708th Research and Testing Center for Air Defense Means of Interspecific Purpose;
• military unit 31926 - 20 OIS;
• military unit 33763 - 23rd separate security battalion;
• military unit 33782 - 35th separate mixed aviation squadron;
• military unit 33901 - railway battalion;
• military unit 39216 - communications regiment;
• military unit 42202 - 60th Order of the Red Star Training Center for the combat use of the Rocket Forces of the Ground Forces;
• military unit 47209 - training division of the Rocket Forces;
• military unit 48315 - 439th Guards Perekop Order of Kutuzov rocket artillery brigade of the Ground Forces;
• military unit 52910 - 30th separate engineering and testing unit;
• military unit 54003 - 88th aviation commandant's office;
• military unit 74322 - 118th research and testing center;
• military unit 75376 - Federal State Educational Institution of Secondary Vocational Education "161 School of Technicians of the Strategic Missile Forces".

Let's take a closer look at some of them.

Military unit 15646

Military unit 15646 (1st Directorate) was formed on September 2, 1946 to solve the problems of testing rocket technology, that is, it is one of the main parts of the test site. It is staffed by engineering and technical staff, which directly carries out test launches of missiles at the test site.

Depending on the types of rocket technology being tested, the organizational structure of military unit 15646 underwent changes at different times. In 2000, the 1st Directorate and the test center subordinate to it were transformed into a single structure - the 261st Research and Testing Center.

From the first launch of the A-4 to the launch of the Topol-M rocket, this is the path of test engineers of military unit 15646. They have thousands of launches of strategic missiles and launches of spacecraft for military and scientific purposes.

Military unit 21065

A significant share of the test work falls on the 788th Research and Test Center, which was formed as a result of the merger of the 11th Emba State Test Site, the 2nd Test Directorate of Tactical Missile Systems and the 34th Engineering Test Unit.

In 1999, the personnel of the center in the bare steppe had to create a test base in a short time. The main specialization of the 788th Research and Testing Center at present is testing and research in the field of creating tactical and operational-tactical missile systems, reconnaissance and strike systems, anti-aircraft missile systems and complexes military air defense, combat control and communication systems.

One of the main directions of the center's work is the Iskander theme. After the state tests of the Iskander complex were completed in 2004, experiments are being carried out here with modernized control and guidance systems for the complex, and new classes of missiles are being created.

Also, the specialists of the center make a great contribution to the refinement and modernization of the S-300VM air defense systems, the Buk and Tor air defense systems, and the Smerch MLRS.

Military unit 29139

A special air defense range, now the 708th Research and Testing Center, was established in 1951 to test the first Soviet S-25 Berkut anti-aircraft missile system.

During its existence, the center tested many samples of anti-aircraft missile weapons, automation and radar equipment, which made it possible to solve tasks of national importance for the protection and defense of the country's air borders. The specialists of the center carried out more than 25 thousand launches of anti-aircraft missiles and target missiles, tested 200 samples of rocket technology.

Today, the center is working to improve tactical and technical missile weapons in the interests of all types and branches of the military.

Military unit 52910 and military unit 74322

Measuring missile trajectories is the most important work during test launches. The very first launches at the Kapustin Yar test site were provided by officers armed with German film theodolites. With the help of captured equipment, telemetric measurements were also made. All the tasks of processing and deciphering the data were assigned to the calculation bureau, the main equipment of which was slide rules and the first adding machines.

In 1962, on the basis of the measuring divisions of the test units, the 3rd department of measurements and mathematical processing and the 30th separate engineering and testing unit were formed. The scale of the measurement work is evidenced by the geography of the units subordinate to the 3rd Directorate: 29 units dispersed from KapYar to Balkhash and Bratsk. The intensity of the work was so great that the measuring departments and the computer center worked around the clock.

By the beginning of the 21st century, a modern look measuring complex. On September 1, 2001, the 118th Research and Testing Center was formed for better quality measurements during testing of new types of weapons. The entire system for collecting and processing measurement information has moved to a new level. It united measuring points, machine complexes of the computer center, automated places for analysis and evaluation, and command posts into a single information network. New technologies using satellite communication channels, unique software developed by the center's specialists made it possible to display the flight path of the tested product in real time.

Over the more than 50-year history of the center, its personnel provided measurements and calculations for thousands of launches, several generations of computer and measuring equipment were put into operation.

10th State Research Test Site Sary-Shagan

It is one of the main connections of the 4th GTsMP.

It was established in 1956 on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Located to the northwest and west of the lake. Balkhash. It is connected by a highway to the Kapustin Yar test site. Currently, the territory of the landfill is leased by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

Sary-Shagan is unique in that it is the only test site in Eurasia for testing anti-missile weapons systems. Also, the personnel of the test site made a significant contribution to testing the combat equipment of missiles of strategic equipment systems.

During the existence of the test site, more than 70 missile defense systems and more than 20 types of anti-missiles have been tested on it. In the 60s - 80s, missile defense systems were tested at the test site on new physical principles(projects "Terra" and "Omega" to create domestic combat lasers).

Military unit 33763

The security battalion was formed in 1946 from front-line soldiers. Throughout the existence of the range, the personnel of the battalion solved the most important tasks of ensuring the protection of the range, carrying out control and access control and commandant service.

Military unit 33782

The 158th mixed aviation regiment was formed in 1959. To ensure testing, the pilots carried out the dropping of targets for anti-aircraft guided missiles, flights with control and measuring equipment, and searched for separable parts of the missiles. At present, the regiment has been transformed into the 35th separate mixed squadron. It is armed with An-72, An-26 aircraft and Mi-8 helicopters. The squadron is based at a military airfield near the city of Znamensk (Kapustin Yar airfield).

Military unit 33901

The railway battalion was formed in 1968, but the history of the railroad workers of the landfill began much earlier, with the laying of the first railway lines. A whole railway network was created connecting the sites of the landfill. Military railway workers serve four hauls (about 50 echelons pass annually), carry out current repairs of railway tracks and maintenance of the locomotive fleet of the training ground, and constant maintenance of the combat readiness of the rolling stock.

SERVICE AT THE POLYGON KAPUSTIN YAR

A test engineer is a unique profession that is not taught in any university. They are prepared directly at the landfill. To learn the basics of test work, an officer must serve in an engineering position for at least 6 years.

A qualified tester is an officer with the rank of colonel, as a rule, a candidate or doctor of technical sciences, whose age is 45-50 years. He must be able to communicate on an equal footing with representatives military industry and the general designer, defending the interests of the Ministry of Defense, and this implies solid experience and a level of technical literacy. The special responsibility of the work of the tester is due to the fact that large financial resources are allocated for the development of weapons by the state, and it depends on the tester whether this or that sample will be recognized as fit for adoption.

But not only testers should be qualified specialists. Even soldier and sergeant positions at the training ground involve great responsibility. For example, driving a Topol-M combat vehicle cannot be entrusted to a conscript soldier. This work is usually performed by contract sergeants.

Another extremely responsible soldier's work at the training ground is refueling liquid rockets. The fuel components are explosive, and if the refueling procedure is not correct, an explosion may occur.

A complex and science-intensive soldier's specialty is the operator of measuring instruments. The operator must have a higher education and be proficient in computer technology. They work in the field with video and film theodolites, photo-recording stations. The positions of operators are completed by military personnel under the contract, as a rule, the wives of officers.

One of the social problems associated with service at the training ground is the resettlement of servicemen who are retiring or retiring from ZATO Znamensk. This problem is solved both by commissioning apartment buildings for military personnel in other cities (most often in Volgograd and Volzhsky), and by issuing state housing certificates to military personnel dismissed from the ranks of the Armed Forces.

© The material was prepared specifically for the portal "Modern Army". Copying without the consent of the portal administration is prohibited.