Russia successfully launches a new generation Angara rocket
Russia successfully launched Monday, December 14, almost six years after the previous try, its new generation Angara rocket, the first developed in the country since the fall of the Soviet Union.The only launch of a heavy rocket Angara dates back to the end of December 2014 but since then, delays have accumulated on this program intended to replace aging Proton launchers, whose technology dates back to the 1960s.
To read AUSSINOUVEL FAUTION OF THE EUROPE VEGA: the manufacturing in question
The rocket took off on Monday as expected from the Cosmodrome Militaire de Plessetsk (North) at 05:50 GMT."At the time planned, 12 minutes 28 seconds after takeoff, the orbital block of the Angara A5 rocket (...) separated from the third floor," the Roskosmos space agency said in a statement, welcoming a launch "successful"."She flies, damn it!" Wrote Roskosmos Dmitri Rogozine's boss on Twitter, accompanied by a photo of the rocket on her shooting step.
The Angara rocket has been designed to replace Proton launchers, whose first versions date from the 1960s and which have been victims of several failures in recent years.A commission of inquiry then discovered faults on most of the engines produced for the proton rockets.
The Angara also uses cleaner technology, since it is powered by a mixture of kerosene and liquid oxygen, much less polluting than the toxic ergols used for proton launchers.
The Angara program, however, was late and the calendar set by the Russian authorities at the time of the first try, in 2014, is not respected.The rocket having taken off on Monday should initially have to fly on November 3, date several times postponed.
Source of immense pride in the Soviet era, the Russian space sector has encountered heavy difficulties since the fall of the USSR in 1991. In recent years have been marked by several corruption scandals and a series of failed launches, including oneRegarding a inhabited flight, fortunately without consequences for the two amazes that had been able to eject.
- Prev
- Next
