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Russia gets new environmentally friendly heavy-lift carrier rocket — Roscosmos head

The Angara-A5 rocket was launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome on December 23 and successfully placed into orbit a dummy spacecraft, performing all the tasks of the first test launch

Head of Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) Oleg Ostapenko ITAR-TASS/Mikhail Metzel

Head of Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) Oleg Ostapenko

© ITAR-TASS/Mikhail Metzel

MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/. Russia gas got the new heavy-lift Angara-A5 carrier rocket with environmentally friendly class of fuel, head of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) Oleg Ostapenko told reporters on Tuesday.

“This means that Russia has got a new modern and environmentally friendly heavy-lift carrier rocket,” he said. “I congratulate everyone who has been involved in this launch and the rocket creation — designers, engineers, workers and the military. Thank you for your selfless work,” Ostapenko added.

The Angara-A5 rocket was launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in north-west Russia at 08:57am, Moscow time on December 23 and successfully placed into orbit a dummy spacecraft, performing all the tasks of the first test launch. The Briz-M upper stage that separated from the rocket is yet to place the dummy spacecraft on a geostationary orbit with the altitude of 35,800 kilometers. The Angara is the first new family of space rockets developed by Russia since the USSR period and is an essential part of President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to revive the national space industry. A lighter version of the rocket was launched successfully in July.

The Angara-A5 rocket can place spacecraft with the mass up to 24 tons into a low near-Earth orbit and up to 4 tons — into a geostationary orbit. Unlike many other rockets, the Angara-A5 uses non-toxic fuel components, namely oxygen and kerosene.

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