TheNational Space Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Kazakh:Қазақстан Республикасы Ұлттық ғарыш агенттiгi,romanized: Qazaqstan Respublikasy Ūlttyq ğaryş agenttıgı), also known asKazCosmos, orKazKosmos, isKazakhstan's national space agency, and was officially established on 27 March 2007.[1]
On 7 January 2000, the Kazakh government decreed it would form acosmonaut corps.[2] At that time, two Kazakh cosmonauts had already flown,Toktar Aubakirov in 1991, andTalgat Musabayev (1994, 1998; later 2001).[3] Out of 2000 candidates, two were selected,Aidyn Aimbetov andMukhtar Aymakhanov, in 2002.[4] They were sent toStar City for training from 2003 until 2009, when the world financial crisis indefinitely postponed the spaceflight. In 2009, they returned to work in KazCosmos.[5] They had originally been projected for a spaceflight in 2005 or 2006.[6] Aymakhanov left Kazakhstan in 2012 to become a Russian citizen to pursue a cosmonaut career.[7] Aimbetov was still ready for spaceflight in April 2015, and had originally been projected to fly on a 2017 launch.[8] In June 2015, he was selected as the replacement forSarah Brightman onSoyuz TMA-18M/Soyuz TMA-16M, who had declined to fly, and her backupSatoshi Takamatsu also declined. He launched from Baikonur on 2 September 2015, docked with theInternational Space Station, and returned on 11 September 2015, touching down on the Kazakhstan Steppe, having spent 10 days in space.[9][10]
The year prior to establishment, on 18 June 2006, thecommunications satelliteKazSat-1 was launched fromBaikonur Cosmodrome, marking the beginning of Kazakhstan's independent inflight space operations.[11] In 2008 communications with the satellite ended, and it was declared lost.[12] The next planned satellite,KazSat-2, experienced a series of delays, but was launched on 16 July 2011 on board a Proton rocket. KazSat-2 was built by Krunichev and Thales Alenia Space Italy.[13] KazCosmos signed a contract with ISS-Reshetnev and Thales Alenia Space Italy on 21 June 2011 for the third telecommunications satellite, namedKazSat-3 and launched it in 2014.
The head of the agency,Talgat Musabayev, is a veteran of three spaceflights, including two long-duration stays aboard the Russianspace stationMir. Musabayev says that theBaikonur Cosmodrome, which is in Kazakhstan, is the main component of the cooperation between the Russian and Kazakh space programs.[11] The Russians still heavily use Baikonur for launches.
