Svobodny (launch site)
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Svobodny (Russian: Свобо́дный) is a Russian rocket launching site used since 1996 and located in Amur Oblast. Geographical location: . Originally constructed as a launch site for intercontinental missiles, it was planned as replacement for Baikonur, which became a foreign territory after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but the development was not finished because of financial difficulties. Since 1997 rockets were launched off launchers of the type Start-1. Certain launch sites can be modified for rockets of the Rockot (SS-19 based) class.
Only five launches have taken place at the underused Svobodny site.
In 2005, after the lease renewal of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the Russian Space Agency decided they did not need a second space launch complex, and ordered Svobodny closed.
However, despite this order, the complex launched the Israeli Eros B Satellite on April 25, 2006 aboard a Start class rocket. Plans were to launch again at the site in the months following.
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