Cosmodrome
Russian's border security zone in Mezen. 300 km from Arkhangelsk and few from Polar Circle. In this hostile territory, where environmental and climatic factors make everyday life strenuous, computing errors in the trajectories of satellites from Plesetsk’s Cosmodrome become an unexpected resource. About 1500 km North of the launch base, between forests and tundra, there is a populated area of about ten villages.
Inhabitants, who base their own survival on hunting and fishing, are used to build daily life objects - mostly sledges and boats called “raketa”- with the collected fragments of space rockets, making illegal business of the internal metal components. Recovery operations take place during the winter, in which the river beds freeze and makes roads more easily passable with sleds and cars. Since 1997, more than 1,500 launches took off from this site.A highly toxic chemical compound called Unsimmetrical dimethylhydrazine is used as a propellant.
Inhabitants, who base their own survival on hunting and fishing, are used to build daily life objects - mostly sledges and boats called “raketa”- with the collected fragments of space rockets, making illegal business of the internal metal components. Recovery operations take place during the winter, in which the river beds freeze and makes roads more easily passable with sleds and cars. Since 1997, more than 1,500 launches took off from this site.A highly toxic chemical compound called Unsimmetrical dimethylhydrazine is used as a propellant.