ASTANA – When Yuri Gagarin lifted off on April 12, 1961, from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan became the starting point of the space age — though not yet a space power in its own right. The date would later be marked as Cosmonautics Day, anchoring the country’s place in global space history.
Kazakhstan has long been associated with Baikonur, the legendary launch site of the Soviet space program. But today, the country is trying, deliberately, and not without friction, to build something of its own. The foundation of that effort was laid in October 1991, when Toktar Aubakirov became the first Kazakh in space, flying aboard Soyuz TM-13 from Baikonur.
His mission launched not just a career, but a national trajectory, including early research into biotechnology and the ecology of the Aral Sea region. He was followed by Talgat Musabayev, whose three expeditions and record-breaking spacewalks secured Kazakhstan a visible place in global space history, and later by Aidyn Aimbetov, whose work aboard the ISS ranged from Coulomb crystal experiments to monitoring Caspian ecosystems.
For years, that was the story: participation, not production. Now, the narrative is shifting. In Astana, a spacecraft assembly and testing complex, with no real equivalent in Central Asia, marks a move away from dependence on imported systems. Certification by players like Airbus Defence and Space and a localization level of around 30% suggest that Kazakhstan is beginning to assemble, not just operate, its space assets.
Export contracts for Earth observation systems to countries like Congo and Nigeria point in the same direction. So does the development of the OTS-Sat technological satellite within the Organization of Turkic States, and ongoing work on components that could eventually support ultra-light launch vehicles.
If you want to see what that transition actually looks like, beyond strategy papers, it’s happening on factory floors and inside clean rooms. In the special episode for The Astana Times YouTube channel, we go inside one of Central Asia’s most advanced aerospace facilities, follow how satellites are assembled, and speak directly with the engineers trying to close that gap.
In our special episode, we find out what does this transition actually look like on the ground beyond strategy papers and announcements? Photo credit: The Astana Times The economic footprint is no longer theoretical. Over the past five years, space-based monitoring services have generated 977 billion tenge (US$2 billion) in economic impact.
The KazSat satellite constellation now fully covers national demand for communications and broadcasting, reducing reliance on foreign systems by more than 120 billion tenge (US$254 million), with KazSat-3R expected to secure that infrastructure going forward. Space is also quietly becoming part of everyday life.
Around 1,000 rural schools are connected to the internet via Starlink, while satellite-enabled systems support emergency response, logistics, and environmental monitoring. Kazakhstan is also looking further out. Scientists are participating in missions such as DART mission with NASA, while a national space surveillance system: currently 12 telescopes, with plans to expand to 30, is being integrated into global monitoring networks.
There are also lunar ambitions, including plans for a near-lunar telescope.