“Cosmos” in the Museum-Memorial Landscape of Zhezkazgan

Abstract

The article presents one of the alternative versions of the Soviet space heritage in Kazakhstan on the example of the Zhezkazgan / Ulytau region. It was in this region, in the vicinity of the village of Baikonyr, that a “false” cosmodrome was located; it later gave its name to the official cosmodrome in the Kyzylorda region. Here the “sub-route zones” of space launches pass, there are cosmonaut landing zones, and there is falling space debris. On the basis of field research materials collected between 2021 and 2022 the article investigates museum practices, places of memory, as well as common themes linking space infrastructure and the cultural landscape. The authors use Pierre Nora’s theoretical concept of places of memory as markers of the relevance or non-relevance of the past. They examine urban rituals of the cosmonauts’ meeting, the history of the first Republican Museum of Cosmonautics, memories of the secret territories of the “false” cosmodrome and how the memorial to the dead cosmonauts of the Soyuz-11 crew was created. Through an analysis of space places of memory and changes in museum policy, the dynamics of the local attitudes to the “grand space project” are shown. The study shows that interest in the region’s space heritage is maintained only by those actors who have been associated with space activities: current and former military personnel, journalists specializing in space reporting. There is no need for locals to preserve the memory of these events, which are not native history to them. People living in the space debris drop zone are more concerned with ecological compensation for risks than with their connection to space history.