. one of my favorite is launching sputnik you gave the world a bucket. of. baikonur is the place from where sputnik one opened the gateway to space on october fourth one nine hundred fifty seven. two years before the historic sputnik flight abroad step was the only thing here besides a lonely train station and camels. it was a god forsaken place until the kremlin decided in one nine hundred fifty five to create an enormous facility for testing nuclear missiles. construction in the wastelands of the step went on a pace that was baikonur in one nine hundred fifty five.