Plesetsk to perform first test launch of Angara rocket
MOSCOW. June 27 (Interfax-AVN) - Test flights of the next-generation Angara launch vehicle will begin at the Plesetsk space center in the Arkhangelsk region with the trial mission of a light Angara 1.2PP, the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) told Interfax.
"This is a landmark event for the entire rocket and space industry of Russia: a next-generation launch vehicle will perform its first flight in many years," a Roscosmos spokesman said.
A source in the rocket and space industry told Interfax-AVN the launch had been tentatively scheduled for 3:15 p.m. Moscow time on Friday.
The auxiliary launch time and date are 3:15 p.m. Moscow time on June 28.
The Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center has been working on the Angara project for 20 years. It won a tender for the development of a heavy-lift launch vehicle, which later developed into the Angara project, in August 1994.
A universal family of light, medium and heavy-lift Angara launchers is being developed for lifting into orbit practically the entire range of payloads of the Russian Defense Ministry in the designated range of altitudes and orbit inclinations, including the geostationary orbit, and for guaranteeing the genuine independence of Russian military space programs.