The dates for the launch of Soyuz-5 carrier rockets from Baikonur were announced
It became known that flight tests of the new Russian launch vehicle Soyuz-5 from the Baikonur cosmodrome within the framework of the Baiterek project, which is being implemented jointly with Kazakhstan, will begin at the end of 2023. This was reported by RIA Novosti with reference to the words of Dmitry Rogozin, General Director of the state corporation Roscosmos.
“ We expect to rhythmically create the Baiterek rocket and space complex using the Soyuz-5 rocket at the Nazarbayev launch site (site 45 of the Baikonur cosmodrome) … and by the end of 2023 we will be ready for the start of flight tests of this complex, ” – said Rogozin.
Recall that work on the creation of a medium-class carrier rocket “Soyuz-5”, which should replace the missile “Zenith” produced in Ukraine, was started in 2016. The first stage of the Soyuz-5 will use the upgraded first-stage engine of the Zenit RD-171MV rocket. The second stage of Soyuz-5 is planned to use the RD-0124MS, an upgraded third-stage engine of the Soyuz-2.1b rocket, which will replace the RD-120 used earlier and produced in Ukraine.
In 2018, the Roscosmos state corporation signed a contract with the head developer of the Soyuz-5 rocket RSC Energia for 61.2 billion rubles for the creation and testing of a new launch vehicle. It is assumed that as part of flight tests in the period from 2023 to 2025, at least three launches will be carried out from the site of the Baikonur cosmodrome. Together with the first rocket, a mock-up of the spacecraft will go into flight. After completion of flight tests, it is planned to conduct at least two launches of Soyuz-5 missiles annually. The Soyuz-5 launch vehicle will be manufactured by the Progress RCC.
