The Baikonur Cosmodrome is a spaceport in an area of southern Kazakhstan leased to Russia.
The Cosmodrome is the world's first spaceport for orbital and human launches and the largest operational space launch facility. The spaceport is in the desert steppe of Baikonur, about 200 kilometres east of the Aral Sea and north of the river Syr Darya. It is near the Tyuratam railway station and is about 90 metres above sea level. Baikonur Cosmodrome and the city of Baikonur celebrated the 63rd anniversary of the foundation on 2 June 2018.
The spaceport is currently leased by the Kazakh Government to Russia until 2050, and is managed jointly by the Roscosmos State Corporation and the Russian Aerospace Forces.
The shape of the area leased is an ellipse, measuring 90 kilometres east–west by 85 kilometres north–south, with the cosmodrome at the centre. It was originally built by the Soviet Union in the late 1950s as the base of operations for the Soviet space program. Under the current Russian space program, Baikonur remains a busy spaceport, with numerous commercial, military, and scientific missions being launched annually. All crewed Russian spaceflights are launched from Baikonur.