Kapustin Yar Kapustin Yar Kapustin Yar () is a Russian rocket launch and development site in Astrakhan Oblast, between Volgograd and Astrakhan. It was established by the Soviet Union on 13 May 1946 and in the beginning used technology, material and scientific support from defeated Germany. Numerous launches of test rockets for the Russian military were carried out at the site, as well as satellite and sounding rocket launches. The town of Znamensk was built nearby to serve the missile test range. The 4th Missile Test Range "Kapustin Yar" was established by a decree of the Soviet Government ""On Questions of Jet
Astrakhan Oblast Okrug of Stalingrad Oblast. From October 8, 1980 to October 27, 1984, and under the leadership of Nikolai Baibakov, the USSR held fifteen deep underground nuclear tests for Nuclear Explosions for the National Economy at the site "Vega" in the Ryn Desert in the east of the oblast less than 50 km from downtown Astrakhan to create reservoirs for natural gas storage. Because of the detonation depth (975 to 1,100 meters) and relatively low yield (3.2 to 13.5 kilotons), no radiation was released to the environment. These blasts had lower yields than the Project "Sapphire" blasts, which were 40 km