Russia launches new heavy-class Angara space rocket

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Russia successfully carried out the first test launch of a newest heavy-class Angara A5 rocket on Tuesday.

The rocket was launched at Plesetsk cosmodrome in Russia's northern Arkhangelsk region at 08:57 a.m. Moscow Time (0557 GMT), according to the Defense Ministry press service.


Twelve minutes after the liftoff, the orbiting payload model separated from the third stage.

The Briz-M upper stage would carry the model to the target orbit for payload weight and dimension tests, said the press service.

Russian President Vladimir Putin watched the rocket launch via video.

"This is indeed a great and very important event for our aerospace industry and for Russia in general," Putin said later.

The president added that the Angara A5, using the most advanced technologies, will help place any type of satellites into orbit, for either military or scientific purposes.

"(These satellites) are intended for missile attack early-warning systems, intelligence use, navigation, as well as communications and rebroadcast. It will allow us to further consolidate Russia's security," Interfax news agency quoted Putin as saying.

Angara A5 can be placed into orbit with a payload of 1.5 to 35 tons. The first manned mission using Angara is planned for 2018 from the newly built Vostochny cosmodrome in the Amur region in Russia's Fast East.

Investment in the Angara project has exceeded 3 billion US dollars over the last 20 years.
 Source: Xinhua- globaltimes.cn
23/12/14
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Related:

• Russia postpones Friday's planned launch of Angara space rocket (VIDEO RIANEWS)

• Russia’s new Angara-1.2PP carrier rocket will be removed from the launch pad at the northern Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Arkhangelsk Region, for additional checks after its flight scheduled for June 27 was cancelled.

Angara rocket test-launched from Plesetsk space center gets to designated spot

Strictly in line with the cyclogram (schedule) of the flight, 21 minutes after the launch, the mass-dimensional model of the payload got to the designated spot on Kura testing range...

Russia’s Aerospace Defense Troops have done the first test-launching of a news Russian carrier rocket Angars-1.2PP, a spokesman for the Plesetsk Space Center in northern Russia told ITAR-TASS.
The launch was carried out as scheduled. The preparations and effectuation were supervised by the Commander of Aerospace Troops, Lieutenant-General Alexander Golovko.

Other officials attending the launch were Oleg Ostapenko, the Director of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), and Igor Komarov, the Director General of the United Space Rocket Corporation.

Strictly in line with the cyclogram (schedule) of the flight, 21 minutes after the launch, the mass-dimensional model of the payload got to the designated spot on Kura testing range in Kamchatka at a distance of 5,700 km.

Angara is the first civilian space-launch vehicle designed in Russia in almost 50 years after the death of the founder of Soviet/Russian cosmonautics, Sergei Korolyov, who died in 1966.
One more family of rockets, the Protons, was first tested during his lifetime, while the rockets of the Soyuz family are the profoundly overhauled versions of his R-7 rocket.
Investment in the Angara project has exceeded $ 3 billion over the past twenty years.
According to experts at the Khrunichev Center aerospace corporation, a big advantage of the new rocket carrier is that “it is a universal space rocket system” capable of taking three types of rockets into space: light with a payload of up to 3.5 tonnes, medium with a payload of up to 14.6 tonnes, and heavy with a payload of up to 24.5 tonnes.
Medium lift and heavy lift launch vehicles can take payloads to the geostationary orbit as well.
The first test launch was originally expected to take place on June 27 but it was aborted as the automatic control system stopped the countdown. The launch attempt was delayed for one day only to be cancelled again.
The designer of the first stage engine RD-191 blamed the failure on a fall in the pressure of the oxidizer tank.
[MOSCOW, July 09. /ITAR-TASS]
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Related:

• Russia postpones Friday's planned launch of Angara space rocket (VIDEO RIANEWS)

• Russia’s new Angara-1.2PP carrier rocket will be removed from the launch pad at the northern Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Arkhangelsk Region, for additional checks after its flight scheduled for June 27 was cancelled.

• First rocket in Angara family test-launched from Plesetsk space center....

Russia’s Aerospace Defense Troops have done the first test-launching of a news Russian carrier rocket Angars-1.2PP, a spokesman for the Plesetsk Space Center in northern Russia told ITAR-TASS.

The launch was carried out as scheduled. The preparations and effectuation were supervised by the Commander of Aerospace Troops, Lieutentant-General Alexander Golovko.
The first test launch of the light class rocket Angara-1.2PP was originally expected to take place on June 27. The automatic control system stopped the countdown. The launch attempt was delayed for one day only to be cancelled again.............................http://en.itar-tass.com/non-political/739709
8/7/14
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Russia postpones Friday's planned launch of Angara space rocket (VIDEO RIANEWS)

The test launch of an Angara space rocket automatically aborted due to “technical issues,” Russian officials said. While the second attempt is scheduled for Saturday, President Putin has ordered the reasons for the launch failure be detailed in one hour.

The launch of the Angara was aborted just few minutes before the start due to “technical issues,” sources in the Russian space agency Roscosmos said. The mission was aborted automatically.


The new attempt is scheduled for Saturday, 3:15pm Moscow time (11:15 GMT).

Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu reported the failure launch to Putin and requested one hour to establish the facts in the situation.

“Do not rush the work. Carefully analyze everything and report to me after an hour,” Putin told Shoigu.

Brand new Angara rockets, Russia's first new design of space vehicle since the Soviet era, have been in development since 1994. The defense program has cost over 100 billion rubles (around US$3 billion). Friday was to see a debut launch from the military space launch pad in Plesetsk, in the country’s north-east. It should have reached the Far East’s Kamchatka in 21 minutes.
[indian.ruvr.ru]
27/6/14
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Video: Angara Rocket Displayed at Khrunichev Center: