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Rocket Angara tests postponed until 2013. / July 16, 2010 /

Flight tests of the new Russian carrier rocket Angara will begin no earlier than 2013. This date, called the Director General of the State Space Scientific Production Center (Khrunichev) Khrunichev Vladimir Nesterov, the words quoted by ITAR-TASS.

Previously it was assumed that the engineers will test the missile as early as 2012. The main difficulty, according to Nesterov, is the lack of the necessary test infrastructure on the ground, as well as machines for the production of missiles. Equipment GKNPTs heavily worn, explained the director.

Nesterov said that over the previous five years development work on the creation of "Anagary were completed at 95-97 per cent. Sustainer engine first stage RD-191 is ready at 99 percent, and its assembly must be completed in the first quarter of 2011. Sustainer engine of the second stage RD-124, as noted by Nesterov, has flown three times on the carrier rocket Soyuz-2 ".

Director Khrunichev also recalled that the flight tests of the Angara "actually started during the start of the Korean rocket KSLV-1 and were quite successful. The first stage of this rocket was assembled in Russia and is a universal rocket module «Angara».

It should be noted that the launch of KSLV-1 was a failure — after 136 seconds after launch terrestrial service lost contact with the rocket, and later learned that it exploded (a detailed chronology of the events described here). Representatives of the Russian side has already stated that the accident KSLV-1 is not connected with the first stage of the rocket.

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