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Russia’s super-heavy carrier rocket to be ready for tests in 2027

Earlier it was reported that the first launch of the new Russian super-heavy carrier rocket was expected in 2028

MOSCOW, August 15. /TASS/. Russia’s super-heavy carrier rocket should be ready for flight tests in 2027, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday.

"As for the super-heavy carrier rocket, Roscosmos [State Space Corporation] should provide for the start of its flight tests by 2027 and not by 2030," the vice-premier wrote.

A source in the rocket and space industry told TASS in June that the first launch of the new Russian super-heavy carrier rocket was expected in 2028 while the construction of the launch pad for it at the Vostochny spaceport in the Russian Far East was planned to be finished in 2027.

Russia’s Energomash research and production association subsequently confirmed in its presentation at the MAKS-2017 international airshow outside Moscow that the first launch of this rocket was planned in 2028.

Director General of the Center for the Operation of Ground-based Space Infrastructure Rano Dzhurayeva told TASS at that time that the construction of the infrastructure for the Soyuz-5 rocket and the super-heavy launcher at the Vostochny cosmodrome would begin after 2025.

As a source in the rocket and space industry told TASS in early June, the new carrier rocket is codenamed in the documents as the "Super-Heavy Complex-3" or "Energiya-3" where the figure indicates the number of rocket modules of the first and second stages that will actually be Soyuz-5 medium-class rockets.

Unlike the Energiya-5 version capable of lifting about 100 tonnes, which can be made on the basis of the Energiya-3 launcher with the addition of the other two blocks of the first stage, its lightweight version will be capable of lifting about 68 to 72 tonnes (if the third stage is hydrogen-fueled).

According to Roscosmos, the construction of the super-heavy rocket and its infrastructure at the Vostochny Cosmodrome will cost 1.5 trillion rubles ($25 billion). The corporation earlier stated that there was no need to hurry with the construction of the super-heavy carrier rocket as no payloads were available for it.