Russia to test launch 10 Angara heavy carrier rockets

Moscow: Russia will test launch around 10 Angara heavy carrier rockets in the next few years, Alexander Medvedev, general designer of the rocket’s manufacturer Khrunichev Centre has said.

"We plan to complete test launches of the carrier rocket from the Plesetsk cosmodrome by 2020 and to start the serial Angara production after that," Medvedev told TASS news agency on Tuesday.

"The first Angara launch from the Vostochny spaceport is set for 2021. In general, around 10 test-launches of Angara heavy rockets and four test launches of Angara light rockets are planned," Medvedev said.

He said the Angara rockets will carry spacecraft during test launches. The first test launches of Angara heavy and light rockets were held in 2014 with simulated payloads.

Angara, named after a river in eastern Siberia, is a family of space-launch vehicles being developed by the Moscow-based Khrunichev Research and Production Space Centre.

Angara 1.2 has a lift-off mass of 171 tonnes and can deliver over 3 tonnes of payload to a low orbit.

Angara 5 is a heavy lift launch vehicle, weighing 773 tonnes at lift-off, and has a payload capacity of 24.5 tonnes.