Angara launch scrubbed for the second day in a row
Technical issues early this morning caused Russia to scrub, for the second day in a row, the first launch of its new Angara-A5 heavy-lift rocket from its Vostochny spaceport in the far east of Russia.
The first attempt to launch the Angara-A5 rocket from the Vostochny spaceport on Tuesday was canceled about two minutes before the scheduled liftoff due to a failure of the pressurization system of the oxidizer tank in the central block [the core stage] of the rocket.
The second attempted launch Wednesday was also aborted by the automatic safety system, which registered a flaw in the engine start control mechanism, said Yuri Borisov, head of Russia’s state-controlled space corporation Roscosmos. He added that the failure was most likely rooted in a programming error.
They intend to try again tomorrow.
Angara has been under development for about two decades. This launch, which carries a dummy payload, will be the fifth launch of Angara, though the first of of the heavy-lift A5 configuration since 2014. In 2019 vibration issues were discovered that caused a major delay in its development. Of the previous four launches, only one carried an actual payload into orbit. All the others carried dummy payloads, with one test launch failing.
Russia needs the Angara-A5 rocket if it is going to build its own space station, because it no longer has the Proton rocket to launch modules. It also needs to get its Vostochny spaceport up and running, because its long term access to Baikonur in Kazakhstan is increasingly questionable.
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Technical issues early this morning caused Russia to scrub, for the second day in a row, the first launch of its new Angara-A5 heavy-lift rocket from its Vostochny spaceport in the far east of Russia.
The first attempt to launch the Angara-A5 rocket from the Vostochny spaceport on Tuesday was canceled about two minutes before the scheduled liftoff due to a failure of the pressurization system of the oxidizer tank in the central block [the core stage] of the rocket.
The second attempted launch Wednesday was also aborted by the automatic safety system, which registered a flaw in the engine start control mechanism, said Yuri Borisov, head of Russia’s state-controlled space corporation Roscosmos. He added that the failure was most likely rooted in a programming error.
They intend to try again tomorrow.
Angara has been under development for about two decades. This launch, which carries a dummy payload, will be the fifth launch of Angara, though the first of of the heavy-lift A5 configuration since 2014. In 2019 vibration issues were discovered that caused a major delay in its development. Of the previous four launches, only one carried an actual payload into orbit. All the others carried dummy payloads, with one test launch failing.
Russia needs the Angara-A5 rocket if it is going to build its own space station, because it no longer has the Proton rocket to launch modules. It also needs to get its Vostochny spaceport up and running, because its long term access to Baikonur in Kazakhstan is increasingly questionable.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Careful on the wording of A5 first flight… This is its 4th flight I think. But it is the first flight from Vostostchnoy.
From Wikipedia:
“The first Angara A5 test flight was launched on 23 December 2014. The second test flight was launched on 14 December 2020 from Plesetsk.[27] A third test flight was launched on 27 December 2021, also from Plesetsk. However, the test of Persei upper stage failed and the payload did not make it from LEO to GEO.[28]”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angara_(rocket_family)
It is very confusing and you were spot on till the end.
Mr. Zimmerman may have been getting info from RussianSpaceWeb, where the latest insider article is talking about the fifth flight, and as usual for Anatoly Zak, has a real problem with verb tense in his writing and it reads like the fifth flight is either the current attempt, has already happened, or is planned for later this year, depending on which paragraph of the article you’re reading. And then of course it’s also easy to confuse “Angara 5” and “5th Angara launch.”
The correct information is that today, they scrubbed the second launch attempt for Angara-5’s fourth flight. The third launch attempt is scheduled for tomorrow, and if that fails they will have to roll the vehicle back to the assembly building for refitting.
Yo,
I got my information from BtB, after searching for all listed Angara launches, as follows:
December 23: 2014: Angara A5 rocket launches successfully
December 14, 2020: Russia successfully completes second Angara rocket launch
December 28, 2021: Upper stage fails during 3rd test launch of Russia’s Angara rocket
April 29, 2022: China and Russia each successfully complete launches
October 16, 2022: Russia launches military satellite using Angara rocket
I didn’t look closely enough at the first launch, which is why I made the error that geoffc notes. It is now corrected.