In the middle of the vast desert of Kazakhstan is the hulking spacecraft launch complex called the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
It’s the world’s oldest space launch facility, and a place of great mystery. Its remote location and enormous size has kept it in the center of endless speculation, stretching from secret Cold War weapons testing to the disappearance of Malaysian Air flight MH370.
The Baikonur Cosmodrome was built in the late 1950s, as the space race between the USSR and U.S. began heating up. The whole complex was built under the utmost secrecy.