Arkalyk
Cosmonauts would land on the huge central Kazakh steppe and come back to Arkalyk before heading to the Baikonur, the Soviet Union's premier "space city".The city is linked by rail communication with the regional center (terminal station on a branch Esil - Derzhavinsk - Arkalyk).Roads Zhezkazgan - Arkalyk ground, in the wet weather becomes difficult even for freight transport because of mud.In Soviet times, it carried out flights to many cities in Kazakhstan, but since the mid-1990s an airport has been practically abandoned and used only sporadically during the search and rescue for the planting of crewed spaceaids.In the 1960s Arkalyk was declared the All-Union shock Komsomol building, there was the young people flock from all over the USSR.The region constantly demanded subsidies from the national budget, so in June 1988 it was dissolved and its territory was divided between Kostanai and Aqmola areas.At the turn of 20th and 21st century, local authorities organized a campaign to relocate the remaining residents from the abandoned districts to the older city center, so the cost for municipal services would be reduced and communication would be significantly improved.The radius of 6 km (4 mi) from the city are extensive mining (related to mining bauxite ore), the depth of 20–50 m. The natural reservoirs are not numerous, except for two drying creeks Akjar (in the northern part of town) and Arkalyksay (in the southern part of town), running from the East to the West.100 km (62 mi) from the city there is Akzhal deposit of nephritis, which was mined in 1997 for extraction purposes of decorative facing stone.