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Russia’s Angara-A5 heavy rocket liftoff rescheduled for April 10 — Roscosmos chief

As Yury Borisov explained, the liftoff process was halted by automatic equipment two minutes before the launch due to a failure in the central unit’s oxidizer pressure tank

VOSTOCHNY COSMODROME /Amur Region/, April 9. /TASS/. The launch of an Angara-A5 heavy carrier rocket with an Orion booster from the Vostochny spaceport has been rescheduled for a backup date of April 10, Roscosmos Chief Yury Borisov said on Tuesday.

The launch of the Angara-A5 rocket from the Vostochny spaceport on April 9 has been postponed by 24 hours, he said.

"In this situation, it is necessary to empty fuel and we will look into the final causes and the launch has been tentatively scheduled for a backup date of April 10," Borisov said.

As the Roscosmos chief explained, the liftoff process was halted by automatic equipment two minutes before the launch due to a failure in the central unit’s oxidizer pressure tank.

The first test-launch of an Angara-A5 heavy carrier rocket from the Vostochny spaceport in the Russian Far East was scheduled for 12:00 p.m. Moscow time (9:00 a.m. GMT) on April 9. Previously, Angara carrier rockets lifted off only from the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia.

The launch was expected to start flight development tests of the Amur rocket system that comprises the Angara rocket and the Vostochny spaceport’s infrastructure. In addition, the rocket’s Orion booster was expected to be tested.

Russia is set to complete the tests of Angara light and heavy carrier rockets in 2025.