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Russia to launch new Angara heavy carrier rocket from Plesetsk spaceport on Dec. 23

The fall area of launch vehicle separable parts is partially located on the territory of the Tomsk Region

Angara-A5 heavy carrier rocket Vadim Savitsky/Russian Defence Ministry/TASS

Angara-A5 heavy carrier rocket

© Vadim Savitsky/Russian Defence Ministry/TASS

MOSCOW, December 9. /TASS/. The launch of an Angara-A5 heavy carrier rocket from the Plesetsk spaceport is scheduled for the evening of December 23, the administration of the Kargasoksky district of the Tomsk Region announced on Thursday.

"The launch of an Angara-A5 space rocket from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome [the Arkhangelsk Region] is planned. The launch time is 18:00 Moscow time on December 23, 2021 (the launch back-up date is December 24, 2021)," the administration said in a statement posted on the VKontakte social network.

The fall area of launch vehicle separable parts is partially located on the territory of the Kargasoksky, Parabelsky, Kolpashevsky and Verkhneketsky districts of the Tomsk Region, the statement says.

"The area’s territory is bounded by an ellipse with the dimensions of the axes of 160 km x 50 km, with the district’s center located 65 km northwest of Lake Tresh," the local administration specified.

Fragments of the carrier rocket’s second stage are expected to fall on this territory. The district’s administration called on local residents to avoid visiting the area at the specified time. "We persistently ask you to report to the Tomsk Region Population Protection and Territory Department, if you find fragments of the carrier rocket," the local administration said.

The Angara is a family of next-generation Russian space rockets. It consists of light, medium and heavy carrier rockets with a lifting capacity of up to 37.5 tonnes. The new family of rockets uses environmentally-friendly propellant components. The first two launches of Angara heavy rockets took place from the Plesetsk spaceport on December 23, 2014 and on December 14, 2020.

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