Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 31
45°59′46″N 63°33′51″E / 45.99611°N 63.56417°E
A Soyuz-2.1a rocket carrying the Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft as it was erected at Site 31/6 | |||||||||||||
| Launch site | Baikonur Cosmodrome | ||||||||||||
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| Location | Kazakhstan | ||||||||||||
| Time zone | UTC+5 (AQTT) | ||||||||||||
| Operator | Strategic Missile Forces Russian Aerospace Forces Roscosmos | ||||||||||||
| Launch pad(s) | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Orbital inclination range | 49–99° | ||||||||||||
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Baikonur Site 31, also designated as Site 31/6, is a launch complex at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It serves as a key launch site, supporting Soyuz-2 launches for both crewed and uncrewed missions. The site was first utilized on 14 January 1961 for a test flight of the R-7A, an intercontinental ballistic missile on which the Soyuz rocket family was based. Since 2020, following Roscosmos' transition from the Soyuz-FG to the Soyuz-2 rocket for crewed missions, Site 31 has become the primary launch site for Soyuz flights to the International Space Station (ISS). This shift occurred after Site 1/5, also known as Gagarin's Start, failed to secure funding for upgrades to accommodate the slightly larger Soyuz-2 rocket. Before that, it only saw a handful of crewed flights when Site 1/5 was unavailable.