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 Khanate including most of what is now Astrakhan Oblast and the steppeland on the right bank of Volga in present-day Kalmykia. To the south was the Caspian sea, to the east the Nogai Horde, and to the west Nogais who were theoretically subjects of the Crimean Khanate. The area was a natural center since it was the intersection of the north-south trade route down the Volga to Persia and the east-west trade route north of the Caspian. From the 6th century it was populated by various Turkic-speaking tribes. They formed two states: Old Great Bulgaria (c632-668) and the Khazars (c650-969). Following