Baikonur Cosmodrome (; ) is the world's first and largest operational
space launch facility. It is located in the
desert steppe of
Kazakhstan, about east of the
Aral Sea, north of the
Syr Darya river, near
Tyuratam railway station, at above sea level. It is leased by the
Kazakh Government to
Russia (until 2050) and is managed jointly by the
Roscosmos State Corporation and the
Russian Aerospace Forces. The shape of the area leased is an ellipse, measuring east–west by north–south, with the cosmodrome at the centre. It was originally built by the
Soviet Union in the late 1950s as the base of operations for its
space program. Under the current Russian space program, Baikonur remains a busy spaceport, with numerous commercial, military and scientific missions being launched annually. All manned Russian spaceflights are launched from Baikonur.