Russia launches prototype of new generation Angara rockets

Passed test. Russia has successfully launched its next-generation Angara rocket, as Moscow seeks to modernize its space fleet to once again establish itself as a leading orbital power. The Angara-A5 rocket took off on the evening of Monday, December 27, from the military cosmodrome in Plessetsk (north), the Russian space agency Roscosmos said in a statement. “Come on, darling!”, Enthusiastic Roscosmos boss Dmitri Rogozine on Twitter, adding that the launch was “a success”.

This is the third test launch since 2014 of a heavy Angara rocket, a machine developed as part of a program to replace aging Proton launchers, whose technology dates back to the 1960s. name of a Siberian river, uses a cleaner technology, since it is propelled by a mixture of kerosene and liquid oxygen, much less polluting than the toxic propellants used for Protons.

The program, the idea of ​​which dates back to the 1990s, has however fallen behind schedule and the timetable set by the Russian authorities at the time of the first test, in 2014, has not been respected. A source of immense pride in the Soviet era, the Russian space sector has been bogged down since the fall of the USSR through corruption scandals, budget cuts, serial delays and embarrassing technical incidents.

>> To read also – Space: new setback for Russia, forced to postpone a lunar mission!

But the sector has endeavored in recent months to present a more conquering face, showing in particular its ambitions in space tourism, with, for example, the recent sending of a Japanese billionaire into orbit.