Baikonur Cosmodrome in Big, Beautiful Pictures

I am so drawn to all things Baikonur. It's been Russia's primary spaceport since 1955—the world's oldest. Maybe it's the sharpness of the pop in my mind when considering many of humankind's most stunning moments of excelsior have originated from the dusty, rusty Kazakh steppe. Maybe it's because Sergio Leone should have made a movie there, with Clint Eastwood squatting around the blast holes and radar towers (I'm calling rights to a Baikonur space western right now—let's work on that script). Whatever it is, Big Picture continues to be directly wired to our brain's good parts. Please check them out for much more: [Big Picture, Image: Bill Ingalls for NASA]