Work on a second launch pad at the Vostochny Cosmodrome is underway. The new pad at the relatively new launch site will cater for Angara launches that are set to begin in 2021. The Cosmodrome is already hosting Soyuz launches.<\/p>\n
A key part of Russia\u2019s future space launch ambitions \u2013 Vostochny has undergone a maintenance period on its current pad that is dedicated to Soyuz rockets. However, it will eventually be the future site for the Angara and super heavy launch vehicles.<\/p>\n
Vostochny, whose name means \u201cEastern\u201d, is built on the site of the former Svobodny missile base. Svobodny, which was the farthest East of Russia\u2019s cold war missile bases, was occupied by UR-100K missiles until its closure under the START-II treaty during the 1990s.<\/p>\n
After its closure as a missile base, Svobodny was used between 1997 and 2006 for a series of five orbital launches via the Start-1 rocket, a derivative of the Topol missile. Svobodny was closed in 2007 by order of Vladimir Putin, as the Russian Space Agency, Roskosmos, considered the little-used site redundant and expensive to maintain.<\/p>\n
As the most southerly of Russia\u2019s launch sites, Russia\u2019s primary launch site, Baikonur, has been the most suited for launches to lower-inclination orbits. With the other Russian site, Plesetsk, too far North to provide a practical alternative, all of Russia\u2019s geostationary missions go through Baikonur, as well as launches to the International Space Station and beyond Earth orbit.<\/p>\n
While Vostochny\u2019s latitude of 51.8 degrees North is still higher than Baikonur\u2019s 45.9 degrees, meaning that low-inclination launches will need to expend more fuel adjusting their inclination during flight, it is still usable for geosynchronous missions.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n