The Yu.A.Gagarin State Scientific Research-and-Testing Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC) (Russian: Российский Государственный Научно-Исследовательский Испытательный Центр Подготовки Космонавтов (РГНИИЦПК) им. Ю. А. Гагарина, Rossiyskiy Gosudarstvenny Nauchno-Issledovatelsky Ispytatelny Tsentr Podgotovki Kosmonavtov (RGNIITsPK) im. Yu. A. Gagarina) is responsible for training cosmonauts for their space missions, and is the home of the largest of three cosmonauts' units in Russia, with more than half of Russian cosmonauts.
Until April 2009 the center was owned and operated by the Russian Ministry of Defense in cooperation with Russian Federal Space Agency. On April 2009, Russian President signed a presidential decree transferring the center from the Defence Ministry to the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos)
The Cosmonaut Training Center was inaugurated on January 11, 1960 in Star City outside Moscow. In 1969 it was named after Yuri Gagarin, the first man to fly in space. In 1995 the Cosmonaut Training Center and Air Force Test and Training regiment were merged and reorganized into its current form.
The Center has also trained candidates from other countries of (or aligned to) the former Soviet bloc under the Intercosmos program, which got an initial boost from the joint Soviet-American Apollo-Soyuz flight in 1975. The Intercosmos program later included staff members from other countries as well (France, India, etc.) and provided ground work for the next step in continued and ongoing cooperation between Russia and the United States in joint space missions and for cross-training of US astronauts on Russian hardware in the framework of the Space Shuttle-Mir and ISS programs.
Key GCTC facilities include: