Russia first seriously thought about building its own full-cycle cosmodrome (i.e., designed to service both civil and military space systems) back in the early 1990s, when, as a result of the collapse of the USSR, the Baikonur cosmodrome found itself outside the territory of our country. The Far East for solving this problem was not chosen at all by chance: from here, with the least fuel consumption, it is possible to launch spacecraft of a larger mass into orbit, and the areas of fall of the separating parts of the launch vehicles will be located in sparsely populated regions of the country or in neutral waters. In favor of the Amur Region (and the new cosmodrome is being built near the city of Uglegorsk), the infrastructure issue has also been resolved: both motorways and railways lead to the future "Vostochny"; there is an airport not far from Uglegorsk.
“True, the city itself is very small, today its population is only 5 thousand inhabitants, and instead of a railway station there is only a small station,” says Andrey Airapetov, chief architect of the IPROMASHPROM institute. “Therefore, we are faced with the task of designing absolutely all infrastructure facilities of the future cosmodrome, both technical and civil”. The total area of the territory allotted for the development of the Russian space industry is about 600 hectares. It is divided into many separate sections, each of which has its own function. The cosmodrome is an object of increased technical complexity, and therefore objects of technical infrastructure prevail here. When studying the general plan of the "Vostochny" civilian, this is downright striking: power units, industrial bases, repair plants, filling complexes - it is not possible to find a modest residential block among them at once. But, of course, there is one: if we compare the general layout of the cosmodrome with an expanded fan, then the living area is its handle, and the launch complexes are located at the maximum distance from it.
"The residential area that we are designing is designed for 30 thousand people, and it will include kindergartens and schools, a sports complex, several hotels, a cultural center and a landscape park, which will be predictably devoted to the topic of space exploration and contact with extraterrestrial civilizations." - continues Andrey Airapetov. In the streamlined volumes, partially dug into the ground, the outlines of alien ships are really guessed, but this is rather an exception to the rule than vice versa. The architects deliberately moved away from replicating "cosmic" images - they did not want to act "head-on". “We strived to design clearly modern externally and energy-efficient in their“stuffing”volumes, which would fully meet the needs of future employees of Vostochny and create an image of an ultra-modern cosmodrome,” admits Andrey Airapetov.
Therefore, the image of the TV tower already under construction in the center of the future space town was borrowed not from science fiction writers, but … from local steppe plants, the stems of which are closely intertwined in order to withstand strong winds and hold on to the ground more firmly. The television tower 170 meters high is designed to accommodate cellular, security and radio communication devices. In plan, it is two squares 9 by 9 meters, connected by a three times smaller square. This last element is the core of the elevator shaft, which is "entwined" on both sides by two curved towers. They are made of sheets of perforated metal, emphasizing both the plasticity of the bends and the affinity with the natural palette of the Far Eastern region. In fact, each tower is assembled from several blocks - vertical and inclined, which alternate with each other. This shape makes the TV tower more resistant to wind loads and gives it a memorable silhouette, turning it into a convenient landmark. And in the places of "joints" there are evacuation platforms, some of which are made lookouts. In some 5-10 years from here it will be possible to personally observe the complex life of the new space gates of Russia. By the way, the first launch of the rocket from the Vostochny cosmodrome should take place already in 2015.
