First launch of Angara-A5 heavy-lift rocket from Vostochny Cosmodrome scheduled for early April - Roscosmos chief

MOSCOW. Jan 23 (Interfax) - Russia plans to launch the first Angara-A5 heavy-lift launch vehicle into space from Vostochny Cosmodrome in early April 2024, Russia's state space corporation Roscosmos CEO Yury Borisov said.

"We're prepared to launch the Angara probably during the first ten days of April. The rocket is already at Vostochny together with an upper stage," Borisov said on Tuesday at a plenary meeting of the 48th Sergei Korolyov Academic Space Conference.

Borisov said on December 26, 2023 that the first launch of an Angara-A5 from Vostochny Cosmodrome was planned for March 2024.

Angara is a family of Russian modular rockets with oxygen-kerosene engines based on universal rocket modules (URM), ranging from light to heavy versions. The rocket's lift capacity varies from 3.5 tonnes (for the Angara 1.2) to 38 tonnes (Angara A5V) delivered to low-Earth orbit.