The 761-ton Angara A5 rocket was launched into low Earth orbit on April 11 with a far-reaching plan to build a new national orbital station. The three-stage Angara A5 is the first heavy launch vehicle developed in Russia after the collapse of the USSR and will completely replace the Soviet-era Proton-M in the near future.
The Vostochny Cosmodrome is one of the most ambitious national projects of the 21st century. The construction of the facility in the harsh weather conditions of the Amur region was an extremely complicated engineering and technical task.
On November 6, 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the construction of the cosmodrome, and in 2011, technical and preliminary design work began. Construction of the first stage of the Vostochny Cosmodrome began in 2012, and was completed in April 2016.
Explore Sputnik’s infographic to learn more about the Vostochny Cosmodrome's future development: