Gorodomlya Island

Gorodomlya Island (остров Городомля) is located on Lake Seliger in Tver Oblast, Russia, 300 kilometres (200 mi) northwest of Moscow. The closed urban-type settlement of Solnechny is located on the island.

View of Gorodomlya Island in Lake Seliger

The Soviet government established a biological research center at Gorodomlya Island in 1928. During the 1930s the island was a test site for pathogens that cause foot-and-mouth disease.

In 1946, more than 170 German rocket scientists and engineers, including Helmut Gröttrup and Fritz Karl Preikschat, were brought to the island to work on the Soviet space program. The German colony at Gorodomlya was designated as Branch 1 of research bureau NII-88. The bureau participated in the design of the R-14 and R-1 rocket, a version of the V-2 manufactured with Russian parts.