Mystery abandoned military site at Baykonur

The site photofile.ru is full of hundreds of
thousands of images posted by Russians
on all subjects.

More than a thousand of the pictures are
in and around Baykonur -- the city and
the cosmodrome. "SergKhan", for example,
seems to have imaged every major building
in the entire city.

A guy with the screen name 'Breugel' has several sets.
One particularly fascinating sequence is he
http://photofile.ru/album.php?id=484347

It shows an 'abandoned military installation"
about half an hour's drive into the steppe
from the cosmodrome. 34 photos. The facility
was apparently abandoned in September 1991.

Walls, gates, empty barracks, etc... I'd sure
like folks with military experience to make some
guesses about the installation's purpose,
whether it might be associated with the
now-abandoned SAM sites, or even nuclear
weapons storage.

There's a trick to getting the hi-res image
sometimes. When you click on the
thumbnail and only get a drawing of a camera,
scroll down until you see the option
???????????? ??????
(Originalniy razmer -- original scale)
and click it. The hi-res image appears
in a pop-up.

"Jim Oberg" wrote:

Walls, gates, empty barracks, etc... I'd sure
like folks with military experience to make some
guesses about the installation's purpose,
whether it might be associated with the
now-abandoned SAM sites, or even nuclear
weapons storage.

There's no way to make a guess - as there's no photo's of anything
resembling an operational area. A barracks/wall/gate looks pretty
much the same regardless of what the facility is.

Translations of the book titles at
http://photofile.ru/image.php?id=9575274
and
http://photofile.ru/image.php?id=9575277

And the signage at
http://photofile.ru/image.php?id=9575470&pager=2
and
http://photofile.ru/image.php?id=9575471

might help. As would any overheads.

D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL

test, this is only a test

Derek Lyons wrote:
"Jim Oberg" wrote:
whether it might be associated with the
now-abandoned SAM sites, or even nuclear
weapons storage.

You just let your imagination run wild

The titles on the photos and everything else suggest that was a
"strojbat" - "construction batallion", basically the workforce.

Translations of the book titles at
http://photofile.ru/image.php?id=9575274

"Socialist military collective"

and
http://photofile.ru/image.php?id=9575277

"Unified norms and quotes for building, construction and repair works"

And the signage at
http://photofile.ru/image.php?id=9575470&pager=2

"High Voltage! Danger of death. Voltage 380 volts. Responsible for
safety priv. Normohamedov"

and
http://photofile.ru/image.php?id=9575471
The title under the photo says "they couldn't even find russian
electrician"

might help. As would any overheads.

I hope so

could be the remains of a production line, with stuff being assembled
by a line of workers.
http://photofile.ru/image.php?id=9575141

That is the drying room when you dry your clothes.

Thanks!!

"dmitrik" wrote
You just let your imagination run wild
The titles on the photos and everything else suggest that was a
"strojbat" - "construction batallion", basically the workforce.

dmitrik wrote:

The titles on the photos and everything else suggest that was a
"strojbat" - "construction batallion", basically the workforce.

If it were a construction battalion belonging to GUSS -- IIRC that's
"Glavnoye Upravleniye Spetsial'nykh Stroitelstv" (Main Directorate of
Special Construction [Works]) -- it might be interesting. GUSS was
responsible for building sensitive/important installations and
facilities, including some at Baykonur.

See
http://www.russianspaceweb.com/baikonur_r7_1.html
http://www.russianspaceweb.com/baikonur_origin.html

But that's just reaching for possible interest.

http://photofile.ru/image.php?id=9575141

could be the remains of a production line, with stuff being assembled
by a line of workers.

Of course any equipment is long gone.

Regads

Carsten Nielsen
Denmark