The Space Forces of the Russian Aerospace Forces today successfully launched the Angara-A5 heavy-class launch vehicle from the Plesetsk cosmodrome.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported this on its official website, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The launch was carried out with a payload dummy weighing 2,4 tons, which was successfully launched into orbit.
This is the second test launch of the Angara-A5. The previous one was successfully carried out from the northern cosmodrome on December 23, 2014. Flight tests of the rocket, which include six launches, are scheduled to be completed in 2021-2022.
The head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, emotionally commented on the launch on his Twitter.
“She flies, damn it!!!,” wrote Rogozin.
Political scientist Marat Bashirov explains the official’s violent reaction by career considerations.
“Rogozin remains at the head of Roscosmos. “Angara” finally flew,” Bashirov wrote in his Telegram channel.
“In general, it would be very strange if a rocket worth 5 billion rubles (even by space standards, this is space money) did not take off. Dmitry Rogozin would again have to look for the guilty and morally corrupt in the ranks of the top management of Roscosmos (don’t start with himself),” said liberal Ksenia Sobchak.
Professor of the Higher School of Economics Dmitry Evstafiev considers the launch of Angara to be the key to a successful future for Russia.
“You know, colleagues, this is not a smartphone for you to blurt out. About 20 countries and 50 companies can do this. But why? This is the real future. And the future is not only for Russia. For peace. And, this is something very few people can do…” wrote Evstafiev.
"Angara" is a family of environmentally friendly launch vehicles of various classes. It includes light carriers "Angara-1.2", medium "Angara-A3", heavy "Angara-A5" and increased payload "Angara-A5B".