In Baikonur in December, the average temperature is around -12C. Deep in the vast grasslands of the Kazakh steppe, it is a small relic of the former Soviet empire which lies 200 kilometres east of the Aral sea, just around the corner from nowhere in particular.
But Baikonur does have a claim to fame – it is to be the site of the world’s first and largest ‘Cosmodrome,’ and it has an illustrious history as Star City; the site of the Sputnik launch and the beating heart of the Soviet Space Programme.
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