The Yuri A. Gagarin Research-and-Testing Cosmonaut Training Center celebrates its 55th anniversary on January 11. It is the Russian training facility responsible for training cosmonauts for their space flights. The center became the cradle of space travel, opening the way to the stars for humanity.
The facility was originally known as Military Unit 26266, and was a secret training base for Soviet Cosmonaut candidates.
Above: The Yuri A. Gagarin State Scientific Research-and-Testing Cosmonaut Training Center.
Above: The Yuri A. Gagarin State Scientific Research-and-Testing Cosmonaut Training Center.
The center is located in Zvyozdny Gorodok (Star City) near Moscow. Russian and Soviet cosmonauts have lived and trained there since the 1960s. In the Soviet era, the location was a highly secret and a guarded military installation.
Above: Cosmonaut training on centrifuge at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut training center, Star City.
Above: Cosmonaut training on centrifuge at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut training center, Star City.
The site was chosen for its proximity to Moscow and other infrastructure that would be essential for its functions.
Above: Preparing a cosmonaut for tests at the TsF-18 centrifuge at the Yury Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.
Above: Preparing a cosmonaut for tests at the TsF-18 centrifuge at the Yury Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.
The Cosmonaut Training Center was inaugurated on January 11, 1960.
Above: Pilots German Titov (center left) and Yuri Gagarin, (center 2nd left) with the cosmonaut training group, study the space equipment.
Above: Pilots German Titov (center left) and Yuri Gagarin, (center 2nd left) with the cosmonaut training group, study the space equipment.
Military physician Colonel Yevgeny Karpov was appointed as the first head of the cosmonaut training center on February 24, 1960.
Above: Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gidzenko, research cosmonauts Pedro Duque (Spain) and Ulf Merbolt during emergency landing survival training in winter conditions in the marshlands. The Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre.
Above: Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gidzenko, research cosmonauts Pedro Duque (Spain) and Ulf Merbolt during emergency landing survival training in winter conditions in the marshlands. The Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre.
In 1969 the center was named after Yuri Gagarin, the first man to fly in space.
Above: Anthropoid robot demonstrated at the Cosmonaut Training Center during the 10th International Manned Space Flights Research Conference.
Above: Anthropoid robot demonstrated at the Cosmonaut Training Center during the 10th International Manned Space Flights Research Conference.
Since its establishment and until 1991 the center was owned and operated by the Soviet Defense Ministry, and then until April 2009 - by the Russian Ministry of Defense in cooperation with Russian Federal Space Agency.
Above: The Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. The crew of Soyuz 11 spacecraft training inside the spacecraft simulator. From right: test engineer Viktor Patsayev, commander Georgy Dobrovolsky, flight engineer Vladislav Volkov. Zvyozdny Gorodok (Star City).
Above: The Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. The crew of Soyuz 11 spacecraft training inside the spacecraft simulator. From right: test engineer Viktor Patsayev, commander Georgy Dobrovolsky, flight engineer Vladislav Volkov. Zvyozdny Gorodok (Star City).
In April 2009, Russian then-President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree to transfer the center from the Defense Ministry to the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos). On March 31, 2014 former Russian cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov was officially declared head of the facility.
Above: Cosmonaut Boris Yegorov at the gym of the cosmonaut training center.
Above: Cosmonaut Boris Yegorov at the gym of the cosmonaut training center.
The facility contains infrastructure essential for training cosmonauts in a wide range of experiences, such as simulating g-loads, suit training, medical observation and astronavigation.
Above: The Yuri Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Centre, Star City.
Above: The Yuri Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Centre, Star City.
Key training facilities include two centrifuges, a weightless environment training facility and Il-76 training aircraft.
Above: Vladimir Putin as Russian Prime Minister visiting a weightless environment training facility at the Yuri Gagarin Research and Testing Cosmonaut Training Center at Star City outside Moscow on April 6, 2010.
Above: Vladimir Putin as Russian Prime Minister visiting a weightless environment training facility at the Yuri Gagarin Research and Testing Cosmonaut Training Center at Star City outside Moscow on April 6, 2010.
Centrifuges are used to test the reactions and tolerance of cosmonauts to acceleration above those experienced in the Earth’s gravity.
Above: A centrifuge at the Yury Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.
Above: A centrifuge at the Yury Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.
Il-76 zero-gravity training aircraft provide brief near-weightless environments for training cosmonauts. Training aircraft are based at the Russian Air Force base at Chkalovskiy airfield.
Above: Cosmonaut Patrick Baudry of France during a training session at the Yury Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre.
Above: Cosmonaut Patrick Baudry of France during a training session at the Yury Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre.
The center has full-size mockups of all major spacecraft developed since the Soviet era, including the Soyuz and Buran vehicles, the TKS modules and orbital stations of the Salyut Program, Mir and the International Space Station.
Above: Hydrolab training at the Yury Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Center.
Above: Hydrolab training at the Yury Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Center.
