Progress RCC: the preliminary design of the Soyuz-5 rocket is undergoing examination
The preliminary design of a promising Russian medium-sized Soyuz-5 rocket designed to replace the Ukrainian Zenit carrier has been completed, the Progress Rocket and Space Center (RCC) told TASS .
"The preliminary design has been developed and is currently undergoing examination," the company said.
They also clarified that after the completion of the examination, the project will be sent for approval to Roscosmos.
As RIA Novosti reminds, the delivery of the draft project "Soyuz-5" has been postponed several times since October 2019.
In July 2020, the former CEO and former designer of the Khrunichev Center, Vladimir Nesterov, who worked on the Angara family of missiles, said that the Soyuz-5 carrier being created by the Progress RCC was not needed.
As part of the Baiterek project, it is planned to launch Soyuz-5 from a converted launch pad for the Ukrainian Zenit-3SLB carrier at Baikonur. In the joint Russian-Kazakh project, Moscow is responsible for the creation of the carrier, and Nur-Sultan finances the work on the launch infrastructure. Flight tests of the Soyuz-5 are scheduled for the first half of this decade. The carrier is a two-stage medium rocket. The launch vehicle weight is about 530 tons, length - 61.87 meters, diameter - 4.1 meters, first stage engine - RD171MV, second stage engine - RD0124MS. Fuel components: the oxidizer is liquid oxygen, the fuel is naphthyl. The mass of the payload launched into low Earth orbit from the Baikonur cosmodrome is about 18 tons.
