OREANDA-NEWS. October 21, 2008. Experts from Russian space industrial entities prepare the eqipment of the Baikonur Oxygen- Nitrogen Plant (ONP) for the operations to start this fall. The Baikonur ONP had been established under Energia-Buran project in early 1980-s. At that time, significant consumption of both components was expected. Nowadays, the capacity of the plant is too high, thus ONP is started twice a year, in spring and in autumn, when it is cold: at lower temperatures, less power is required to cool the air, which is used to obtain oxygen and nitrogen. The plant will be started after completion of the necessary checks and tests of the equipment. Nitrogen and oxygen to be produced this autumn will be used for launches late this year- first half of 2009.