55 years ago, the Baikonur branch of the Progress plant was established (the Progress Rocket and Space Center, part of the Roscosmos State Corporation). The branch traces its history back to the period of the implementation of the lunar program and the creation of the super-heavy launch vehicle N-1.
In 1964, at the Baikonur cosmodrome, construction began on the buildings of the branch of the Kuibyshev plant “Progress”. By order of the plant dated March 9, 1966, No. 104, the head of the assembly and testing complex A.G. Gorodnichev. Under his leadership, the work on the acceptance and installation of technological equipment under the N-1 program was launched at the cosmodrome. Over the years of mastering the lunar program, the branch has assembled 1 model and 6 flight copies of the N-1 carrier rockets. In the period from 1969 to 1972. there were 4 experimental launches.
The time of the creation of the Baikonur branch coincided with the beginning of tests of the Soyuz carrier rocket, now recognized as the most massive in the world. Since 1976, the branch has begun work on the creation of the Energia-Buran reusable transport space system. The assembly and testing building has undergone significant revision, new facilities and systems have been introduced. The team of the branch was entrusted with the assembly of the C and Ya blocks and the general assembly of the space rocket. In total, 2 prototype and 4 flight blocks “C” were assembled. From 1966 to the present time, with the participation of the Baikonur branch, launches have been carried out under a manned program.
Modern technologies for the manufacture and assembly of products, the accumulated experience, the enormous professionalism of the employees of the Baikonur branch today make it possible to successfully carry out rocket and space projects that are complex in their technical implementation. The branch’s combat crew participates in the launches of Soyuz-2 type carrier rockets from the Baikonur cosmodrome, the most launching cosmodrome in the world, in the implementation of the large-scale Soyuz project in the Guiana Space Center. ” Vostochny cosmodrome.
To date, the Baikonur branch of the Progress RCC has performed 215 launches of medium-class carrier rockets of the Soyuz and Soyuz-2 types, more than 100 of them have taken transport ships to the International Space Station.