By Anastasia Teterevleva and Guy FaulconbridgeMOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia on Thursday test-launched its Angara-A5 space rocket for the first time from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Far East, successfully putting a test load in low orbit as part of an effort to develop a new post-Soviet launch vehicle.The test launch of the Angara-A5, Russia’s first post-Soviet space rocket, was aimed at underscoring Moscow’s ambition to be a major space power and the growing importance of Vostochny, situated in the forests of the Amur region of Russia’s Far East.But two launches of the Angara rocket were aborted at the very last minute on both Tuesday and Wednesday due to a malfunction of a pressurising system and then a problem with the engine launch-control system.To the relief of Russian space officials, they were third time lucky on Thursday, just hours before Russia celebrates Cosmonaut Day marking the day 63 years ago that the Soviet Union’s Yuri Gagarin became the first man in outer space.”There is an engine start, the flight is normal,” mission control said as the rocket blasted off to space, reaching more than 25,000 kilometres (15,500 miles) per hour in minutes.”The fu …
Article Attribution | Read More at Article Source
[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnBy Anastasia Teterevleva and Guy FaulconbridgeMOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia on Thursday test-launched its Angara-A5 space rocket for the first time from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Far East, successfully putting a test load in low orbit as part of an effort to develop a new post-Soviet launch vehicle.The test launch of the Angara-A5, Russia’s first post-Soviet space rocket, was aimed at underscoring Moscow’s ambition to be a major space power and the growing importance of Vostochny, situated in the forests of the Amur region of Russia’s Far East.But two launches of the Angara rocket were aborted at the very last minute on both Tuesday and Wednesday due to a malfunction of a pressurising system and then a problem with the engine launch-control system.To the relief of Russian space officials, they were third time lucky on Thursday, just hours before Russia celebrates Cosmonaut Day marking the day 63 years ago that the Soviet Union’s Yuri Gagarin became the first man in outer space.”There is an engine start, the flight is normal,” mission control said as the rocket blasted off to space, reaching more than 25,000 kilometres (15,500 miles) per hour in minutes.”The fu …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
