Three-day tour to Baikonur from Almaty and Astana

Rocket launch tour 2026: excursion to the Baikonur Cosmodrome with visits to launch sites and the “Buran” shuttle

The Baikonur Cosmodrome is one of the most significant places in the world of astronautics, where Yuri Gagarin embarked on his flight aboard "Vostok-1" and where the first artificial satellite of Earth was launched.

The tour includes visits to launch complexes, the Space Museum, the underground command post, and other attractions. You will witness the preparation and launch of a rocket

Touch the cosmos

Tour program

The command post is a massive fortified bunker, the size of a football field, which looks like a large mound from the outside. Inside, it consists of several floors with thick walls, heavy doors, corridors, and halls. Such robust protection is provided in case of an explosion or rocket failure, even though the launch pad is more than 3 kilometers away

By visiting one of the command posts, you will be able to feel like a rocket engineer pushing the "Start" button to launch a super-heavy rocket into space

The outdoor exhibition will impress you with the size of rocket engines, and by boarding the "Burán" space shuttle, you will even be able to sit in the pilot's seat. Visiting the houses of Korolev and Gagarin will give you an insight into the modest conditions in which the pioneers of the space age lived and worked.

The Baikonur spaceport museum will provide the opportunity to delve into rocket engineering, the history of space technologies, and the process of space exploration, as well as see items that have been in space.

The hangar is no longer in use, yet the full-scale flight version of the “Energia” rocket still rises within it — a spacecraft that never made it to space. Over 60 meters long, it stands within arm’s reach, offering a rare and haunting encounter with a lost era of engineering. Just a few dozen meters away is the MZK hangar, where the “Buran” orbiter is stored. Two icons of an unrealized future — side by side, in silence and dust.

A massive facility on the outskirts of Baikonur where the “Energia” rocket was once tested for structural strength before flight. Today, the building stands abandoned — but inside, the real rocket remains. Towering and nearly forgotten, it still holds its place. Visiting this location is charged separately.

The highlight of the tour is watching a real rocket launch from a Kazakhstan launchpad — from inside a specially equipped giant yurt that holds up to 400 people.

For more than thirty years, it hasn't moved an inch. This is BTS-002 — a flight-ready vehicle from the Buran program, nearly complete and once prepared for its first mission. It was assembled right here at Baikonur — and here it remains. We'll stand right next to it: just an arm’s length away from a real orbital spacecraft. The structure is still intact — the hull, the cockpit, the thermal protection tiles. You’ll be able to take photos, walk along the fuselage, and examine the details up close. Your guide will explain how the shuttle was built, why the USSR needed it, and how it ended up abandoned in a hangar where the silence now feels oddly out of place.

We’ve covered the full story of the Buran program — and this specific model, 1.02, which still stands inside the MZK hangar — in our article: Buran 1.02 in the Baikonur Hangar: Where It Is and Why the Project Was Shut Down. If you haven’t read it yet, we highly recommend starting there.

Inside the Assembly and Fueling Complex (MZK) at Baikonur, a spaceplane from the legendary “Buran” program still stands — the 1.02 model, known as “Burya.” It waited for its launch command... but it never came. Visiting this location is charged separately.

We won't be able to rocket into space, but an exciting journey to the stars awaits us at Baikonur: through a powerful telescope, we'll observe the Moon, planets of the Solar System, binary stars, and star clusters. During the day, we'll take a closer look at the Sun's surface, examine sunspots, and even capture them with a special filter.

The tower is a special structure that astronauts use to ascend by elevator, as they say, "to the 9th floor," from where they transfer to the rocket. For those who want to challenge themselves with roof-spotting, we will climb the tower at dawn. You will get to feel the unique atmosphere and enjoy the breathtaking view of Baikonur. It promises to be an unforgettable experience, combining adventure with the beauty of the early morning sky.

For all three days, we will be on the territory of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, staying and dining at the "Yuzhnaya" hotel, where the scientist and space engineering designer M.K. Yangel lived and worked

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Accommodation in Hotels at Baikonur Cosmodrome

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The Photosafari team is a community of adventurers drawn to untrodden paths. For over a decade, we have explored uncharted Kazakhstan and remote corners of the globe, capturing unique footage that showcases the true spirit of expedition to the world.

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