Space opened from Crimea

Crimea is at 45 parallels, between equator and northern pole on equal removal, therefore from here it is the most convenient to operate spaceships. Crimea created also comfortable conditions for work of the Soviet experts in an outer space exploration, and boundless open space of steppes of Saksky area allowed to provide a privacy mode easy. Therefore here large settlements with unique space technics are created some.

Halfway between Simferopol and Sakami, at the left (on the south) from highway huge metal locators of settlement School rise. Here in due time under the direction of academician Sergey Koroleva the special range simulating lunar craters has been constructed of local yellow limestone-shell rock. Before on the moon "Lunohod-1" has been started has been made at once three devices. Some teetotal tractor operators learnt to operate them distantsionno, sitting in a carriage in front of screens of TVs. On these screens the image from chambers of moon rovers was broadcast. The further destiny of moon rovers has developed so: that has departed on the Moon so on it and remained (but he managed to be sold to one rich American), the second is in a museum of Star small town in Russia. Well and the third it is possible to see in a space museum of a name of Jury Gagarin in the International children's centre Artek.

Unfortunately, in the settlement School the small technical exposition was in days of reorganisation and other independence is plundered, and the range has grown with a tall weeds and has swum away from rains.

In recent years the settlement has become famous only for one action – the historical football match «the National team of Crimea against Modular Africa» here has taken place, the best Crimean football players played against the African students. A football ground here really good. The settlement on-being was out of work. There were attempts to organise here lycée, the set in the Cossack lycée is now declared. In general, no place entertaining, but only for the travelling information, excursion here sense have.

From Sak and Evpatoria it is possible to make excursion "Space far and close" in National control centre and tests of space means . There are its main territories and garrison quarters in settlements Dairy and Vitino, and its constructions – huge plates of locators – tower over steppe and are effectively reflected in estuaries already from settlement Zaozernoe.

Operating, but that is connected with the major stages in the history of the Soviet astronautics, it is possible to examine the Center: the kvantovo-optical system "Sazhen" which for the first time has measured distance from the Earth to the Moon, spukaemyj the device which has visited space, a unique radio telescope with diameter of the aerial of 70 metres (the size of a football ground), antenna complexes for management of spaceships.

the Center of the Distant Outer-space communication (the official data):

Radio telescope Building was spent within 5th years with 1973 for 1978.

General characteristics:

The Size of a mirror of the aerial - 70 m

Height of all aerial - 83 m

The Area of its mirror - 2500 kv metres

Gross weight of all design - 5200 tons

Working range of action of a complex - 10 mlrd · km

Accuracy of prompting - 30 ugl.sek.

Igor Rusanov