The launch of the Angara-A5 heavy launch vehicle from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk Region is scheduled for December 23. This was announced on Thursday, December 9, by the administration of the Kargasoksky district of the Tomsk region.
"The launch time is December 23, 2021 at 18:00 Moscow time (the reserve launch date is December 24, 2021)," the administration said in a message published on VKontakte.
The separating parts of the launch vehicle, presumably, will fall on the territory of the Kargasoksky, Parabelsky, Kolpashevsky and Verkhneketsky districts of the Tomsk region. Citizens are asked to be more careful.
"The request to the population, for safety reasons, to refrain from visiting the area of the fall at the specified time. We kindly ask you to inform the Department of Protection of the Population and Territory of the Tomsk Region in case of detection of fragments of the launch vehicle," the published message says.
Earlier, on December 3, Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin announced at the EAEU business forum "Space Integration" that the test launch of the light version of the Angara rocket will take place in the first half of 2022.
On October 8, the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces, Sergei Surovikin, said that two launches of the Angara-A5 heavy launch vehicle and two launches of its light version are planned from the Plesetsk cosmodrome next year. According to him, the Angara-A5 rocket is currently being assembled, the launch date will be determined on December 20.
Angara is a family of Russian environmentally friendly launch vehicles of various classes. It includes light carriers "Angara-1.2", heavy "Angara-A5" and upgraded "Angara-A5M", increased payload "Angara-A5B".