This article was taken from the May 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.This military-rocket factory in Khimki, just outside Moscow, is off-limits to photographers. In December 2011, blogger Lana Sator (above), 23, and her friends snuck unchallenged into the active plant owned by NPO Energomash, one of Russia's oldest rocket-engine makers, through a hole in the fence, a camera in her hand.
Sator's activity is known as "urbex" -- the exploration of abandoned structures such as mental asylums, underground factories and hospitals. "We also try to find and infiltrate into active places, such as industrial plants, refugee centres and bomb shelters at night," says Sator. The NPO Energomash plant develops space-shuttle boosters and missile engines for the military. Sator found it completely unguarded. "For five evenings in a row, we walked around the grounds, looking for open doors," she tells Wired. "Military plants and bases [in Russia] are too easy for infiltration."
Soon after publishing her photos online, the Russian military police arrested Sator. "I spent my New Year's weekend in Ukraine, and when I came back they met me at the airport," she says. Despite official warnings, Sator says she will not stop exploring and photographing. Beats your typical holiday snaps.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
