"Everything was top secret, but the town itself was amazing," said Tamara Tarasenko, 60, a doctor who moved here in 1971. "There were no bandits, no crime."
By the 1980s, Baikonur's population was approaching 100,000. Despite strict regulations and constant vigilance by plainclothes KGB agents, the engineers and military officers in Baikonur enjoyed a "certain liberalism" not tolerated elsewhere, Bryantseva said.
The reason was Baikonur's importance for Soviet propaganda. This was where the Soviets launched spacecraft headed for the moon, Venus and Mars, as well as cosmonauts headed for Earth orbit.
The center also may have played a military role, launching Soviet spy satellites. But no one will talk about that.
Outsiders are sometimes amazed by the efficiency of the launch center crew, in all weather.
"Rain or shine or sleet or snow don't matter," said Mark Bowman, deputy director of the NASA Human Space Flight Program at Baikonur.
The town is expected to remain the world's primary space gate for decades to come.
"We are not a provincial town that will drown in the desert," Bryantseva said.
