In Kazakhstan, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs detained two citizens from France and Germany who entered the Baikonur cosmodrome and tried to photograph the Energia rocket. This was announced today, November 1, by the prosecutor's office of the Kyzylorda region.
"Employees of the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation at the Baikonur complex detained Guyon Axel Olivier Robert, a French citizen, born on 11.01.2003, and Lorenz Julian Karl Jurgen, a German citizen, born on 27.06.1998, for an unauthorized walk on the territory of the Baikonur cosmodrome," the prosecutor's office said.
Protocols on administrative offenses were drawn up on the detainees in accordance with Article 20.17 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and on October 30, 2024, by the decision of the Military Garrison Court in the Baikonur complex of the Russian Federation, administrative punishment was imposed in the form of administrative arrest for one day, after which they were removed from the complex. Soon, they will probably be expelled from the country.
As EADaily reported, in July, three foreigners illegally entered the territory of the Baikonur cosmodrome. The uninvited guests managed to get to the installation and refueling complex, but they were noticed by patrol policemen guarding the territory of the cosmodrome. Among the detainees were two citizens of the Netherlands and one citizen of Belgium. They had nothing to do with the cosmodrome. They had no documents giving the right to be on its territory.
The Energia superheavy-class launch vehicle was developed by NPO Energia in the early 1980s. At the time of the start of operation in 1987, it was one of the most powerful in the world, along with Saturn-5, N-1, and significantly exceeded the carrying capacity of the launch vehicles operated at that time in the world. Only two launches were carried out - on May 15, 1987 with an experimental load and on November 15, 1988 as part of the MTKK Buran complex.
In the early 1990s, work on the Energia-Buran program was suspended, and in 1993 the program was closed. At that moment, at least five Energia launch vehicles were in various stages of readiness at the Baikonur cosmodrome. Two of them were destroyed on May 12, 2002 when the roof of the assembly and test building collapsed, three were at various stages of construction, but after the program was closed, the rocket hulls were either cut up or thrown into the backyard of the enterprise, where they continue to remain to this day.
The technologies developed for Energia are still being used: the RD-170 side block engine, the most powerful liquid engine in the history of cosmonautics, is used (under the designation RD-171) at the first stage of the Zenit launch vehicle, and the RD-180 two-chamber engine (actually the "half" of the RD-171)- in the American Atlas-5 rocket.