(press release taken from Khrunichev)
Preparations are in full swing for the launch of Angara 5 heavy-lift launch vehicle, marking the next testing phase of the new Angara family of rockets.
With the required testing completed, the first Angara 5 launch vehicle flight article has been shipped to Plesetsk from Khrunichev Space Center (KhSC) of Moscow.
Two trains carrying the Angara 5 components (booster stages, upper stage, payload dummy and payloads fairing) left the KhSC facility last week.
The first Angara launch vehicle flight test started on 9 July with the successful orbiting of Angara 1.2ML (“Maiden Launch”) carrying a firmly attached payload simulator, the latter not subject to separation.
The Angara family of launch vehicles is one of the priorities in Russia’s national program to develop launch systems using exclusively the domestic R&D and production potential.
Building the Angara is a task of particular national importance. When the Angara becomes operational, Russia will be in a position to launch all types of satellites from its own territory, thereby gaining a guaranteed independent access to outer space.
The Angara SRC state customers are the Ministry of Defense and Federal Space Agency while the chief design and development contractor is the KhSC. The Angara launch vehicle family includes a range of light-, medium-, and heavy-lift launch vehicles based on generic modules.
The Angara family will have the capacity to launch virtually the entire range of would-be payloads to a variety of orbits including geostationary orbit, affording true independence to domestic space programs. The modular principle supports the buildup of various launch vehicle classes by just using generic boosters: one for the light-lift, three for the medium-lift and five for the heavy-lift.
The parts and components used in the Angara design are all domestically produced. The generic modules (Common Core Boosters) serve as basis for building light-, medium-, and heavy-lift launch vehicles.
Standardization and commonality of the parts being used make it possible to launch the entire Angara family from one multi-purpose launch pad. A prototype of Angara-1.2ML, URM-1 Common Core Booster, has conducted three successful flight tests as part of KSLV-1, the first South Korean launch vehicle.