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Head of Roscosmos to supervise assembly of Soyuz rocket at Vostochny spaceport

On Tuesday, comprehensive tests and assembly of the carrier rocket began on Vostochny

MOSCOW, January 20. /TASS/. Director General of Roscosmos State Corporation Igor Komarov, the head of the delegation of the rocket and space industry, will oversee the assembly of the Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle at Vostochny Cosmodrome (Russia’s Far East) which is to blast off from this launching pad in the spring, a source at the cosmodrome told TASS.

"The working visit of the Roscosmos head will last until the end of the day. Igor Komarov will inspect Vostochny facilities and control the beginning of the assembly of the Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle," the source said.

On Tuesday, comprehensive tests and assembly of the carrier rocket began on Vostochny. Once the rocket is ready, its autonomous and comprehensive tests in the technical area will begin. They are due to be completed on March 25. It is planned to begin comprehensive tests of the support equipment on March 26.

Initially, the first launch from the new cosmodrome was scheduled for December 25, 2015, but in the autumn the launch was postponed to the autumn of 2016. Russian President Vladimir Putin noted some time ago that he hoped the first launch would take place in the first quarter of this year. So far, no specific date has been arranged.