Kazakhstan satellite launched

The Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan launched its first satellite into orbit Sunday in a major step forward for the country's fledgling space program.

Kazakhstan hosts the world's largest space center, the Baikonur cosmodrome built by the old Soviet Union and still used by Russia to launch spacecraft.


Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Russian President Vladimir Putin watch the launch of Kazakhstan's first satellite at the Russia-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome on June 18, 2006.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has made building a space industry a major goal of his government and eventually wants Kazakhstan to construct a national space center of its own.

Using the country's rich oil assets, Kazakhstan has started training its native cosmonauts for future human space missions.