The Angara booster rockets are being developed to secure Russia's independence in space activities and access to space from the Plesetsk space station in the country's north, under any scenarios of military-political and economic relations with other states.
"All conditions have been created and all obstacles and technical problems removed for flight tests of Angara to be started in 2010," Colonel General Vladimir Popovkin said.
The Angara rockets, being developed at the Moscow-based Khrunichev research and production center, run on a mixture of kerosene and oxygen.
The Angara family consists of three types of rockets. Rockets of the first type, which carry up to two metric tons, launch small telecommunications satellites. Satellites of up to four tons can be put into orbit with boosters of the second type. Rockets of the third type can launch over 20 tons.
