KZBlog

There’s a really nice photo essay of Baikonur by Anton Verstakov up, with great shots of the house where Gagarin stayed and even his bedroom among other things. It really is amazing how desolate Baikonur looks. Verstakov notes that the cosmodrome reminds him of Soviet times:

For me it is a sort of a flashback, a visualization of my best memories from Soviet times. I was 10 when USSR collapsed, so my memories are quite blurred and not systematic at all. But this sense of calmness, silence, and peace is very real. These empty clean streets, wide squares, green alleys, monuments, no one in a hurry, everyone living by the working schedule–bring back warm memories. Baikonur is a precious historical reserve where time has frozen.