Russian Defense Ministry Army General Sergei Shoigu has reported to Russian President, Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Putin the first successful test launch of the Angara-1.2PP rocket carrier, the Russian Defense Ministry PR and information department said in a statement.

"The first test launch of the light-class Angara-1.2PP rocket was carried out on July 9 at 4 p.m. Moscow time from the universal launch complex at the state test cosmodrome of the Russian Defense Ministry (Plesetsk cosmodrome) in the Arkhangelsk region by combat unit of the air and space defense forces," the document said.

The construction of the universal Angara space rocket complex at Plesetsk Cosmodrome (Arkhangelsk region), from which the first test launch was carried out on Wednesday, will provide Russia with an independent guaranteed access to the outer space, a high-ranking source in the defense ministry told Interfax on Wednesday.

"Today Russia can only launch heavy-class military satellites, including to the geostationary orbit, using Protons, and only from Baikonur Cosmodrome which it rents from Kazakhstan. This limits our capabilities to efficiently address military-space problems. With the arrival of the heavy Angara, it will be possible to carry out such launches from Plesetsk Cosmodrome and later from the Vostochny one as well," the source said commenting on the start of Angara flight tests.

In particular, this includes satellites for ballistic missile early warning, global surveillance, communications and data relay systems, he said. "The Defense Ministry has tasked the industry with not just building a new carrier to deliver certain payloads to the orbit, but to develop a number of universal rockets that will allow launching any military satellite to any orbit," the source said.

Angara is a family of launch vehicles, consisting of universal rocket modules of the first and second stages, he said.

"A rocket of a required loading capacity can be assembled, like the Lego toy, out of modules for a specific launch. This minimizes launch costs depending on the spacecraft weight and the type of the orbit," the source said.

The first test flight aims "to check the technical solutions used in the construction of the universal space rocket complex," he said. A large number of social and transport infrastructure facilities were built and upgraded at Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the course of this work.

Source: Voice of Russia