Angara LV mockup sent to Vostochny Cosmodrome for trials - Roscosmos

MOSCOW. May 5 (Interfax) - A full-size mockup of the Angara A5 launch vehicle has been shipped from the Polyot Production Association in Omsk to the Vostochny Cosmodrome for trials, Roscosmos said on Friday.

"A full-sized structural mockup of the Angara A5 launch vehicle was sent from the Polyot Production Association (the Omsk branch of Roscosmos' Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center) to the Vostochny Cosmodrome today," it said.

The mockup is being transported to the cosmodrome in customized containers, it said.

"Meanwhile, Polyot is continuing to manufacture the first Angara A5 that will be launched from Vostochny. Once prelaunch and launch preparations are tested using the mockup, [the first Angara] will be sent to the cosmodrome and prepared for liftoff," Roscosmos said.

Roscosmos first deputy head Andrei Yelchaninov told Interfax on April 10 that the company was finalizing construction of an Angara A5 heavy rocket for its maiden launch from the Vostochny Cosmodrome.

As reported, the inaugural launch of the Angara from Vostochny was planned for December 2023, as part of its trials.

Angara is a family of Russia's newest modular-type launch vehicles with various lifting capacities, based on universal rocket modules with oxygen-kerosene engines. The rockets range from light to super-heavy with a lifting capacity of 3.5 tonnes (Angara-1.2) to 38 tonnes (Angara-A5V) to a low near-Earth orbit.

Different modifications of Angara rockets are built using various numbers of universal rocket modules - URM-1 (for the first and second stages) and URM-2 (for the upper stages). The number of universal modules in the first stage determines the lifting capacity of the launch vehicle. URM-1 is powered by the RD-191 liquid-fuel jet engine, designed by NPO Energomash in the Moscow region, while URM-2 has the RD-0124A engine developed by Voronezh-based KBKhA.