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First launch of new Angara rocket from Vostochny spaceport scheduled for summer of 2023

The construction is to be completed in late 2022, according to the space center head

Vostochny spaceport Marina Lystseva/TASS

Vostochny spaceport

© Marina Lystseva/TASS

MOSCOW, September 27. /TASS/. The first launch of a new Angara heavy carrier rocket from the Vostochny spaceport in the Russian Far East is due to take place at the end of the summer of 2023, Head of the State Space Corporation Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin told TASS on Friday.

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"We are planning to complete the construction at the end of 2022 to ensure that the launch of an Angara rocket takes place at the end of the summer of 2023," the Roscosmos chief said, commenting on the results of his working trip to the Vostochny spaceport.

The Roscosmos head added he would be paying inspection visits to the Vostochny Cosmodrome on a monthly basis and set the task of ensuring that the construction of the second stage of the spaceport progresses two months ahead of the schedule.

Department Head of the Center for the Operation of Ground-Based Space Infrastructure Kirill Filenkov earlier stated that the first launch of an Angara-A5 heavy carrier rocket from the Vostochny space center was scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2023.

The second stage of the spaceport’s construction envisages building a launch pad for Angara-A5 heavy carrier rockets and the associated infrastructure. The excavation work at the future launch facility began in June this year.

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