Russia's Angara A5 Rocket Successfully Launches After Two Failed Attempts

 

Russia successfully launched its Angara A5 rocket from a space facility in the country's far east, overcoming technical glitches that had forced officials to abort missions for two consecutive days. This Thursday's launch marks a significant milestone for Russia's post-Soviet space ambitions and highlights the increasing importance of the Vostochny Cosmodrome, nestled in the forests of the Amur region near the Chinese border.

 

The launch attempts on Tuesday and Wednesday were thwarted by issues with the pressurizing system in an oxidizer tank and the engine control system, according to the Russian space agency Roscosmos. However, minutes after liftoff, the rocket reached a speed of over 25,000 kilometers per hour and successfully entered orbit.

 

Roscosmos announced on social media that the launch initiated flight design tests of the Amur space rocket complex with Angara heavy-class launch vehicles at Vostochny. The rocket performed according to plan, with the upper stage separating and placing the test payload into the desired orbit.

 

The Angara project, initiated in the years following the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991, aimed to develop a Russian-made launch vehicle ensuring access to space independent of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, leased from Kazakhstan. The development of the Angara A5, a heavy booster rocket capable of transporting tons of equipment into space, faced numerous delays.

 

The first test flight of Angara A5 occurred in 2014, followed by another in 2020, both from the Plesetsk space facility located 800 kilometers north of Moscow. The Angara A5 is touted as a more environmentally friendly alternative to the Proton M, Russia's heavy-lift rocket in operation since the mid-1960s.

 

Moscow plans to utilize the rocket's cargo capabilities to deliver modules for a space station envisioned as a rival to the International Space Station (ISS) in the coming years. Despite these advancements, Russia's space program has encountered setbacks in recent years, including last month's delay of a Soyuz spacecraft launch to the ISS due to a "voltage dip" triggering an automatic shutdown seconds before liftoff, with three astronauts onboard.