Baikonur

Baikonur - darkometer rating : 4 - The name resonates with historical significance and modern adventure like few others. Baikonur is the oldest and largest "space port" on the planet – this is where the Soviet Union 's space exploration had its home base; and even in post-Soviet times, now in independent Kazakhstan , but leased to Russia , it remains the world's busiest and most significant rocket launching site, even ahead of Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA . The "Cosmodrome" of Baikonur is the place where Yuri Gagarin lifted off to become the first man in space. That followed the first launch of a satellite, the legendary Sputnik, and other firsts included the first living creatures sent to space (namely Laika the dog) before Gagarin and other men, and later also the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, took off from Baikonur. Ever since the various launch pads of the complex have been used for most of the formerly Soviet and subsequently Russian space missions. Today it's even an international "space port". It lies in the middle of the steppe in Kazakhstan , not far (by Kazakh standards) to the east of the Aral Sea .