“Gagarin’s Start” Soyuz launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome Published August 14, 2014 at 800 × 532 in A Guide to the “Stans” of Central Asia The “Gagarin’s Start” Soyuz launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. It was from here where the famous cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (after whom the launch pad is named) launched into space on Vostok 1 in 1961. (NASA / Bill Ingalls)