Baikonur, Kazakhstan

Baikonur (formerly Leninsk) is a city in Kazakhstan administered by Russia. It was constructed to service the Baikonur Cosmodrome and was officially renamed Baikonur by Boris Yeltsin on December 20, 1995.

The original Baikonur is a mining town a few hundred kilometres northeast. The launch site was given this name to cause confusion and keep the location secret. The name Baikonur is Kazakh language for "wealthy brown", i.e. "fertile land with many herbs".

A former placename for the area was Tyuratam; however, that name is Kazakh for "broken arrow" and thus was held to be unsuitable for a space base.

The fortunes of the city have varied according to those of the Soviet/Russian space program.