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First launch from new eastern spaceport planned for 2015

The Soyuz-2 launch system will be used at Vostochny (Eastern) spaceport in the Amur Region. The first launch of a manned spacecraft is planned for 2018

VLADIVOSTOK, November 28 (Itar-Tass) —— The Soyuz-2 launch system will be used at Vostochny (Eastern) spaceport in the Amur Region, and the first blast-off is planned for 2015.

The first launch of a manned spacecraft is planned for 2018.

Liquid oxygen and kerosene will be used as propellant for rockets, unlike toxic heptyl that is used at present for Proton space vehicles, said participants in the two-day conference held by space specialists in Blagoveshchensk’s State Pedagogical University.

Under discussion at the conference were conceptions of launch vehicles, ecological issues and the significance of the spaceport for the economic development of the Far East and the Amur Region.

A special group will be formed in the region to monitor the environment.

The Amur Region administration said on Monday that the stage-by-stage creation of the ground infrastructure would begin in 2012 and the first launch pad would be built by 2015.

The region's production potentialities, including its labour resources, will be used in the construction of the spaceport, in accordance with the agreement concluded between the region and cosmodrome builders that will be in force till 2020.

More than 20 specialists from the Center for the Use of Ground Infrastructure Facilities (Moscow) and the Institute of Water and Ecological Studies (Barnaul) and also chief scientific secretary of the Roscosmos scientific technical board Alexander Milovanov participated in the conference held in connection with the spaceport construction.

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