From the beginning in the Soviet Union Space exploration was a military activity (unlike in the United States where it was the province of the civilian NASA).

It was an integral part of the Soviet strategic ballistic missile force and by the time of the range's creation in 1955 this was the portfolio of the Deputy Minister of Defence for Special Weaponry and Rocket Technology.

While subordinated to the Baykonur Cosmodrome the 43rd SET Detachment conducted the state evaluation program of the R-16U type ICBM and accomplished the first launch from an underground shaft on July 13, 1962.

[9] On January 25, 1962, its designation changed to 51st Separate Engineer Testing Detachment (51-я отдельная инженерно-испытательная часть (51-я ОИИЧ)), but the number 44083 was retained.

As a maskirovka measure the Soviet TASS news agency mentioned the cosmodrome under the name Baykonur (Байконур) by the name of the nearest train station of the Trans-Caspian railway.

While heavily involved in the Soviet space program, the Range simultaneously carried out the task of being the test center for the country's ICBM force.

After the Baykonur Cosmodrome another space-related formation was added in 1957, when the Command and Measurement Complex for Control of Space Vehicles (Командно-измерительный комплекс управления космическими аппаратами (КИК УКА)) was formed initially in Bolshevo, later transferred to Krasnoznamensk, Moscow Oblast.

Also in 1957 the construction of a missile launch range for the testing of R-7 ICBMs started near Mirny, Arkhangelsk Oblast, which later became the Plesetsk Cosmodrome.

In 1964, in order to bring the various space-related units and establishments together, the Soviet Ministry of Defence formed the Central Directorate for Space Assets of the Missile Troops of Strategic Purpose (Центральное управление космических средств Ракетных войск стратегического назначения (ЦУКОС РВСН).

These are different entities and it is important to take this into consideration in order to avoid mixing up the two, because they share the same acronym in Russian - ВКС (VKS).

[11] In February 1971 the 1st Division for Warning Against Missile Attack (1st Division WAMA, 1-я Дивизия предупреждения о ракетном нападении (1-я дПРН)) was formed with HQ in Solnechnegorsk, the 57th Separate Radiotechnical Nod in Olenegorsk, Murmansk Oblast and the 129th Separate Radiotechnical Nod in Skrunda, Latvian SSR.

The 2nd Division for Space Observation (2nd Division SO, 2-я Дивизия разведки космического пространства (2-я дРКП)) followed in July 1973 with HQ in Serpukhov-15, the 145th Center for Space Control and 1069th Command Center (both in the closed military town of Noginsk-9, east of Moscow), the 46th Separate Radiotechnical Nod in Mishelyovka, Irkutskaya Oblast and the 49th Separate Radiotechnical Nod in the closed military town of Balkhash-9, Kazakh SSR.

In 1976 it was reformed again, transferred from the Moscow ADD directly to the High Command of the Air Defence Force (Главное командование Войск ПВО) and correspondingly the designation changed to Second Directorate of the Commander of the Anti-Missile Defence Troops (Второе управление начальника войск ПРО).

In 1988 the 45th Division SC was expanded into the 18th Separate Corps for Space Control (18-й Отдельный корпус контроля космический пространства).

Russian Public TV comment on the matter:[3] However, slightly over three years ago, it appeared to some-one, that, with a view to saving funds, it would be more sensible to strip the Military Space Forces of their independence and subordinate them to the Strategic Missile Troops -which has been done.

In this way, the missile men command remained in their places virtually in full and almost the entire elite of military engineers were dispersed from the space forces.

Afterward, this decision was deemed to have been erroneous.On October 1, 1998, the 3rd Separate Army for Missile Space Defence of Special Purpose (3-я Отдельная армия РКО особого назначения (3-я ОА РКО (ОН)) was reduced into the 1st Division for Early Warning Against Missile Attack (1-я Дивизию раннего предупреждения о ракетном нападении).

Formations of the Space Forces included the 3rd Missile-Space Defence Army, and a Division of Warning of Missile Attack, both with their headquarters at Solnechnogorsk near Moscow.

[15][16] There is an optical tracking facility, the Okno (Window) complex near the town of Nurek in central Tajikistan that is intended to monitor objects in space.