
In Russia’s Space Graveyard, Locals Scavenge Fallen Spacecraft (2018) - justincormack
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2018/06/07/in-russia-spacecraft-land-in-your-backyard/
======
xioxox
I had the chance to visit Baikonur a few months ago. The place (which is in
Kazakhstan) feels utterly remote and the surrounding landscape is amazingly
big and empty to a European like me.

It was very impressive to get within a few 10m of a Proton rocket before
launch. They had some fascinating museums too. The rest of the place had a
very sad feeling. There are lots of abandoned launch sites and buildings
dotted around, with many miles of bumpy tracks and railways connecting them.
You could see the collapsed building where a Buran shuttle and Energia rocket
were destroyed when the roof fell in. There's a huge complex you can visit for
launching the Energia rocket, the programme of which was dropped at the fall
of the Soviet Union.

~~~
retSava
Very interesting! This is on my list of want-to-see's. How free were you to
walk around on your own? How much time did you spend on site?

I've seen there are some travel agencies that offer different packages (x
days, x+1 days, ....) - did you use any of those?

Could you go to the Buran shuttle, or "just" see the building from afar?

Very much appreciate any info and experiences you share.

~~~
xioxox
We were actually there to see our X-ray telescope, eROSITA, being launched on
the Spektr-RG space observatory. Unfortunately the launch was delayed by a
month and we didn't get to see the launch that time, but we got to see the
rocket on the launch pad before fuelling. We went to some museums instead and
had a tour around. It was successfully launched a month later and we're
currently looking at the first data. I was there for two nights.

I can't comment on the travel agencies, as ours was an official delegation. We
went via Moscow from a special terminal on a Tuplov plane. We got to walk
around Baikonur city, around the launch pad (not too close to the rocket), and
inside the museums. We were taken around on a bus by the Roskosmos guides who
would interpret things.

As for the museums, we got to walk around the Energia complex inside for an
hour or two. They have lots of old terminals and control computers for the
fuelling, blast doors and that kind of thing. They have a another main
spaceflight museum they went to, which anything you could think of to do with
Soviet/Russian spaceflight in it. They had lots of rocket motors, medals,
space suits, displays on Gagarin, Laika, Sputnik, a Soyuz capsule, space
food... They have a Buran shuttle outside you can go inside, though I'm not
sure the interior was that complete. We had a few hours there. They also have
Gagarin's house, where every cosmonaut is supposed to stay in before launch.
We also went to the place where they decide to give permission for Soyuz
launches. I saw the Buran building from afar as we were being driven around.

Edit: some photos-
[https://photos.app.goo.gl/W8tkAdjkeZsP3Sqh6](https://photos.app.goo.gl/W8tkAdjkeZsP3Sqh6)
(just from my phone - my camera photos are not online)

~~~
chupasaurus
> They have a Buran shuttle outside you can go inside, though I'm not sure the
> interior was that complete

The one exposed in Baikonur museum is a full-scale model used for pre-launch
procedures' tests, not the actual ship. The second Buran ship which was ready
for launch rots in a fuel-and-maintenance complex alongside another full-scale
model.

~~~
xioxox
Thanks - that probably explained why it felt a bit fake!

------
ggm
Hypergolics are bad. Lots of the high ISP chemicals are things you just don't
want to be around. The foam they spray to treat fire risk when things go boom
(PFOA) is fat absorbed. We have a huge emerging problem in Australia in land
near airports, from the runoff contamination of years of "set a plane alight
and practice putting it out" behaviuors.

This virgin-steppe has now been rained on, semi continuously by rockets for
years. Sure, at one level we're all aware of radiation hormesis and a small
amount of what may kill you is no big deal. I suspect a 50+ year window of
scavenging left over propellant tanks, shedding insulation, odd metals, bits,
stuff, has not done anyone any favours. In aggregate this will be lost in
noise. In point-problem terms in the specific areas, This is basically
industrial contamination.

In the west, you probably wouldn't be allowed to build on it un-remediated,
and I don't mean because "heavy metal things fall out of the sky on you" -The
land itself is now not really a green field any more.

(btw, the lifetime of atlantic coal steam power has left a sea bottom
chemtrail which is awesome)

Babushka used to have one head, now has two...

~~~
retSava
How does those contaminants spread? Eg, airborne or via ground water, ...? How
far from an airport is it risky, if you know?

~~~
ggm
What I read says water dispersion. For example

[https://www.ivl.se/download/18.343dc99d14e8bb0f58b4ff0/14431...](https://www.ivl.se/download/18.343dc99d14e8bb0f58b4ff0/1443169730471/B2232_RE-
PATH%2BFINAL%2B\(3\).pdf)

I'm no expert. The pfoa risk to humans is plastics in food prep and storage
mainly. Most reports say the traces from pfas foams at airports is an
unquantified risk right now. Farms are finding they can't sell produce.

------
sorokod
> _Visitors to the region have reported seeing the roofs of chicken coops and
> sheds built with rocket parts still showing the original Proton insignia._

As Gibson said: The future is already here — it's just not very evenly
distributed.

~~~
growlist
Reminds me somewhat of Elon's approach to building Starship: out in a field
with welding gear.

------
scottlocklin
Soviet dacha owners often used long range interceptor fuel tanks for shower
water tanks. People in the west don't understand: for most of their history,
and in the remote regions, they didn't have ali-baba and ebay to order water
tanks for their country house.

~~~
Baeocystin
I visited Irkutsk in the early 90's. The scientists working at the Lake Baikal
Freshwater Institute had assembled a truly impressive ~35' boat, complete with
sleeping quarters & a full galley, mostly out of salvaged scrap from a plane
crash of a few years earlier. The engine was from an old GAZ truck, the
electrics from who knows.

It was a fascinating visit, and the degree to which people made the best they
could with what they had made a strong impression.

------
ChuckMcM
That was an interesting read. It would seem that Roscosmos has more incentive
to re-use booster stages than Tesla does, both from a cost savings and a
future cleanup problem savings.

For some reason I find the idea of a chicken coop with a (possibly) titanium
metal roof fairly amusing.

~~~
mc32
The Russians haven’t yet shed their Soviet ways -in many respects and
consciousness with respect to the environment is one of them. It’s not a big
concern. They don’t care much about it.

The aftermath of hypersonic rocket/missile accident in the Arctic is a good
example of their disregard in that area.

~~~
juskrey
That "Soviet way" is there for many centuries already..

~~~
mc32
Well yes but the Soviets developed and created their own belief
system/philosophy around manufacturing modernity and a new human being that
would serve the comintern ideals.

~~~
juskrey
Ah, don't listen to what people say, just look at what do they do and how do
they live.

------
syntheno
Damn, just when you think you know what strange is, you read something like
this. Can't imagine being one of these simple village folks and seeing a
burning spent rocket tumbling down from space and exploding in your yard. Kind
of reminds me of ancient astronauts where they always claim myths and fables
were inspired by ancient spacefarers.

~~~
joshvm
The images are great. The first one with the salvagers surrounded by
butterflies is surreal

[http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/files/2018/06/NYC3770...](http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/files/2018/06/NYC37701.jpg)

And the photo of the guy taking a walk in his village next to a crashed Soyuz
looks straight out of a post apocalypse RPG.

[http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/files/2018/06/NYC3770...](http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/files/2018/06/NYC37703.jpg)

~~~
spongeb00b
The images are very similar to Simon Stålenhag paintings.

------
ArnoVW
Reminds me of last year, when images emerged of a "long march" rocket crashing
a couple of hundrer meters from a village, releasing a decidedly not-healthy-
looking red smoke cloud (after the initial fireball).

[http://spaceflight101.com/chinese-villagers-capture-
falling-...](http://spaceflight101.com/chinese-villagers-capture-falling-long-
march-rocket-booster-on-video/)

~~~
m4rtink
It's for sure not healthy - the old Long March rockets, like the one in
question, use hypergolic propellants, which while having the nice features of
igniting on contact & being room temperature storeable in liquid form, are
unfortunately highly toxic and carcinogenic.

------
lhuser123
> Even farm tools and sledges for children have been built out of the
> fragments of rocket hulls.

These children literally played with space rockets.

------
shireboy
Jawas and moisture farmers!

