Baikonur

Also spelled �Baykonur, Baykonyr, or Bajkonur, �also called �Tyuratam, or Turatam, � former Soviet and current Russian space centre in south-central Kazakstan. Baikonur was a Soviet code name for the centre, but American analysts often called it Tyuratam, after the railroad station at Tyuratam (Leninsk), the nearest large city. Baikonur lies on the north bank of the Syr Darya, about 100 miles (160 km) northwest of Qyzylorda. The Soviet Union's secretiveness about