Flight tests of Angara-A5V LV with hydrogen stage set for 2030 - Roscosmos CEO

MOSCOW. April 17 (Interfax) - An Angara-A5V launch vehicle with an oxygen-hydrogen third stage should undergo flight tests at Vostochny Cosmodrome in 2030, Yury Borisov, CEO of Russia's Roscosmos state space corporation, said on Wednesday.

"Another edition of this rocket under development is an Angara-A5V with an oxygen-hydrogen third stage allowing for putting payloads weighing up to 38 tonnes into low-Earth orbits," Borisov said at a conference with President Vladimir Putin.

"Provided the required funding for this work, this launch vehicle's flight tests are planned for 2030," he said.

"In the future, this launch vehicle should be used to launch automatic interplanetary stations and spacecraft for exploring the solar system and deep space," he said.

The first Angara-A5 heavy-lift launch vehicle was launched from Vostochny Cosmodrome on April 11 to put an Orion upper stage and a test payload into orbit. The launch had been postponed twice, as automatic systems aborted it on April 9 and 10.

The Angara is intended to replace Proton launch vehicles, which have been used since the mid-1960s. Its upgraded version, the Proton-M, has been in operation since 2001.