Star City Moscow: How to Visit the Cosmonauts’ Training Center

Twenty-five kilometres northeast of Moscow there is a town of about 7,600 inhabitants where Yuri Gagarin trained to become the first human to orbit the Earth, where Valentina Tereshkova prepared her flight, and where, even today, every cosmonaut bound for the International Space Station spends months learning how to survive in space. It is called Star City (Звёздный городок in Russian, Zvyozdny gorodok) and, although it remains a closed-access compound, it can be visited —even as a foreign tourist— if you plan ahead.

In this guide I’ll tell you exactly what this place is, how to get there, how to obtain the pass as a foreign visitor, what you’ll see inside and what other visitors actually say. Key warning: applications for foreign citizens must be filed at least 45-60 working days in advance (about 2-3 calendar months). If your trip to Moscow is three weeks away, you’re going to miss it this time.

1. What is Star City?

Star City is a 3.2 km² settlement that in 2009 became officially a ZATO (Закрытое административно-территориальное образование), a Russian legal status that translates as “closed administrative-territorial entity”. Until the 1990s it didn’t even appear on maps: it was founded in 1960 as “Posyolok Zelyony” (Green Town), went through the names Щёлково-14 and Военный городок №1 (Military Town No. 1), and only in September 1968 did it officially receive the name we know today.

This is home to the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (ЦПК in Russian, GCTC in English), the institution that has prepared every cosmonaut flying on Soyuz spacecraft since the 1960s. Among those who trained here are Gagarin himself, Valentina Tereshkova, Alexei Leonov (the first spacewalker), Sergei Krikalev (still holding the historic record for hours in orbit) and, more recently, the NASA and ESA astronauts who train alongside their Russian colleagues before every ISS mission.

The official website is available in Russian (gctc.ru) and in English (gctc.su), although the English version hasn’t been updated in years and the most reliable practical information lives on the Russian side.

2. Where it is and how to get there from Moscow

Star City sits 25 km northeast of Moscow, in Moscow Oblast, just off the Shchyolkovskoye highway (Щёлковское шоссе). You have three sensible ways to get there:

• By car or private taxi: 30-45 minutes from central Moscow without traffic. The most comfortable option, especially if you’re a small group. Once in town, you must drive directly to the КПП (security checkpoint); without a named pass you cannot enter.
• By suburban train (elektrichka): leaves from Yaroslavsky Vokzal (Ярославский вокзал) toward Monino or Fryazevo. Get off at Tsiolkovskaya station (Циолковская) and walk 7-10 minutes to checkpoint No. 3. Total time from Moscow: about 1 h 10 min.
• By marshrutka 380 from Shchyolkovskaya metro station (blue line, exit toward the bus terminal). Around 40 minutes.

The most practical choice for a foreign visitor is to let the tour operator handle transport too: nearly all group tours from Moscow include the round-trip bus and take care of the entire pass paperwork.

3. Can foreigners visit Star City?

Yes, but with conditions. Star City is still a special-security site and you can’t walk in on your own. You need a named pass, which can only be arranged through an authorised operator or by writing directly to the centre at info@gctc.ru. The key points of the process are:

• Application with full data: 45-60 working days before the visit. In practice, 2-3 calendar months in advance. Some operators such as zvezdnyigorodok.ru ask for 45 days for foreigners; the official Moscow region tourism portal mentions 60.
• Required data: full name, date of birth, passport number, nationality and place of registration or residence.
• On the day of the visit: bring your physical passport (no copies). Without a passport you don’t get in.
• Minimum age: children from 12 in school groups, and from 7 if accompanied by their parents.
• Language: English-speaking guides are available on request, but not always. Tours in other foreign languages almost always require you to bring your own interpreter, which most foreign-friendly agencies in Moscow can arrange for you.

⚠️ Heads-up: many cheap Russian operators (the ones offering excursions from 3,000 rubles for Russian groups) do not admit foreigners. If you read “Граждане иностранных государств не допускаются” on their website (literally “foreign citizens not admitted”), look elsewhere. Operators that do work with foreign tourists include specialised aerospace-tourism agencies such as Страна Космического Туризма (Space Tourism Country) or Tour in City, among others.

In practice, the most efficient route for a foreign visitor is to book the visit as part of a full guided tour from Moscow with a local agency that handles all the paperwork and the transfer in the same package. If you’re planning other guided tours in the capital, it pays to consolidate everything with a single agency: I cover this in my guide to guided tours in Moscow.

4. What you’ll see during the guided tour

The standard tour lasts between 1 h 30 min and 2 h 30 min, depending on the operator and how many objects are included. The classic route covers five points inside the technical zone of the centre:

1. Soyuz simulators hall. Operational full-scale replicas of the Soyuz-TMA spacecraft where cosmonauts practice launch, ISS docking and re-entry. If you’re lucky, you might see a crew training.
2. MIR station hall. The highlight of the visit: a 1:1 scale mock-up of the legendary MIR orbital station, where between 1986 and 2001 more than 100 cosmonauts and astronauts from 12 countries lived and worked. You peek inside and immediately grasp how cramped daily life up there really was.
3. Russian segment of the ISS hall. A replica of the module where cosmonauts train for their six-month missions on the International Space Station.
4. TsF-18 centrifuge. The largest centrifuge of its category in the world, with an 18-metre arm. It simulates the G-forces of launch and re-entry (up to 8 G on a Soyuz flight). The centre actually has two: the shorter ЦФ-7 and the ЦФ-18.
5. Hydrolab. A 12-metre-deep pool where cosmonauts train in pressurised suits to simulate weightlessness. This is where they rehearse the famous spacewalks (EVAs).

Extended versions or paid add-ons can include the planetarium (where cosmonauts study celestial cartography), a meeting with a retired cosmonaut, a session in the “Выход-2” spacewalk simulator or lunch in the centre’s canteen. Prices vary widely by format; the official up-to-date rates are published on gctc.ru.

⚠️ Important: the Cosmonaut Training Center Museum (in the residential zone) has been closed to the public since June 2025 for the renovation of the Cosmonauts’ House building. For now, the visit focuses on the technical zone.

5. Beyond the Center: what else to see in Star City

The residential side of Star City also has spots worth seeing, which the guide will usually include if the schedule allows:

• Gagarin Square with the monument to Yuri Gagarin, the most photographed spot in town.
• Heroes’ Alley (Аллея героев), with busts of the most distinguished cosmonauts.
• Star Lake (Звёздное озеро), a small forest-ringed lake next to which stands the Church of the Transfiguration.
• The MiG-15UTI aircraft on display near the simulators building, the model on which Gagarin himself logged his training flights.

It is a quiet, very green town, with no advertising or chain stores. People who visit often describe it as a Soviet time capsule in the best sense: no noise, no chaos, plenty of trees, kids playing in the street, and a sense of close-knit community that is hard to find elsewhere in Russia.

6. What visitors actually say

I’ve gone through dozens of reviews on Yandex Maps, Tripadvisor and Russian travel blogs to give you an honest summary of what to expect:

What people praise the most:

• The full-scale MIR mock-up is, by a long way, the thing that impresses visitors the most. Almost every review mentions it as the “wow” moment of the day.
• The authenticity of the place: this isn’t a museum, it’s an operational facility where people are still actively training, and you can feel it.
• The quality of some of the guides, who are occasionally active or retired cosmonauts. Being able to ask questions to someone who has actually been in orbit is something many travellers single out.
• It’s a visit that kids aged 12 and up usually find fascinating.

What people complain about:

• The upfront paperwork and the rigidity of the deadlines: no last-minute changes or name swaps allowed.
• The phone manner of some administrative offices: it can come across as old-school Soviet-style, with little customer-service warmth.
• The luck factor: if cosmonauts happen to be training that day, some halls may be closed to the public without prior notice.
• Pricing for foreign visitors, noticeably higher than the rates published in Russian for local groups.

7. Plan B if you don’t have time to arrange the pass

If you discover too late that the foreigner application takes 2-3 months and your trip is right around the corner, don’t give up on your dose of Soviet space-race history. Two stops in Moscow itself cover part of the story and can be done the same day with no pass needed: the Museum of Cosmonautics, next to the Monument to the Conquerors of Space, and the Cosmos Pavilion inside VDNH park, with a real-size Buran shuttle and Vostok rockets. It’s not the same thing, but it gives you the context and plenty of motivation to come back better prepared.

Frequently asked questions about Star City

Have you visited Star City? How did you arrange the pass and how was it? Drop your comments and experiences below.

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