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Several companies bid for the contract to build the new rocket, and in 1994, Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, which also developed the Russian Proton rocket, was selected.<\/p>\n
The initial design of Angara was to use a modified RD-170 engine on the first stage, and a liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen powered upper stage. However, in 1997, the hydrolox upper stage had been replaced with a kerosene powered upper stage, and the RD-170 had been replaced with the brand new RD-191. Later in the year, Khrunichev received approval from the Russian government to proceed with the design.<\/p>\n
In 2008, NPO Energomash announced that the RD-191 had completed development and hot fire testing, making it ready for manufacturing and delivery to Khrunichev. In 2009, Khrunichev took delivery of the first complete Angara first stage, and in 2010, the Director-General of Khrunichev announced that Angara was on track for its first flight test in 2013.<\/p>\n
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In 2014, 22 years after Angara\u2019s inception, the first launch took place on July 9, as an Angara 1.2pp launched from Site 35\/1 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. Later the same year, the first flight of the Angara A5, a heavy lift launch variant, launched from Plesetsk, carrying a MGM n\u00b01 mass simulator into a geostationary orbit (GEO). The next Angara flight would occur six years later, with an Angara A5 launching on December 14, 2020.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\nRender of the Angara A5 configuration. (Credit: Mack Crawford for NSF\/L2)<\/p>\n
Stage Breakdown<\/p>\n
Angara has several configurations that can range between 2 and 3 stages, depending on the mission requirements.<\/p>\n
The core of any Angara rocket is the Universal Rocket Module, or the URM-1. Angara 1.2 uses a single URM-1, while an Angara A5 uses five, with four URM-1s strapped around the center core as boosters. The URM-1 is powered by a single RD-191, burning liquid oxygen and kerosene.<\/p>\n
The second stage of Angara is the URM-2, and uses a RD-0124A, which is a derivative of the RD-0124 currently flying on the second stage of the Soyuz-2 rocket. The diameter of the URM-2 varies depending on what vehicle it flies on; Angara 1.2 is expected to use a 2.9 meter diameter URM-2 to maintain a consistent diameter throughout the vehicle, and Angara A5 uses a 3.6 meter diameter URM-2.<\/p>\n
Angara 1.2 won\u2019t use a third stage, and Angara A5 won\u2019t use one while delivering payloads to low earth orbit (LEO), but will use one when delivering payloads to higher energy orbits.<\/p>\n