Russia’s second attempt to launch heavy-lift rocket from Far East is aborted
‘Another launch attempt will be postponed for at least one day’
Russia’s second attempt to test-launch a new heavy-lift rocket from its Far Eastern space complex was aborted on Wednesday.
The launch of the Angara-A5 rocket from the Vostochny spaceport was cancelled about two minutes before its planned time of 0900 GMT.
State news agency RIA-Novosti said the cause was failure of the pressurisation system of the oxidizer tank of the central block of the rocket.
National space agency Roscosmos said another launch attempt will be postponed for at least one day.
The first attempt on Tuesday also failed because the automatic safety system registered a flaw in the oxidizer tank pressurisation system, said Roscosmos head Yuri Borisov.
The launch was to be the fourth for the Angara-A5, a heavy-lift version of the new Angara family of rockets that has been developed to replace the Soviet-designed Proton rockets.
