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In the meantime: (Historical background for the events described in this section) 1991 December: The Soviet Union officially ceased to exist. 2004 January: US President George W. Bush ordered NASA to prepare plans for the return of US astronauts to the Moon.
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The Angara-3 rocket was designed to take a middle position in the family of launch vehicles proposed by Moscow-based Khrunichev enterprise in mid-1990s. Technical specifications for the Angara-3 rocket:
Made of three standard "universal rocket modules" or URM-1, and topped with a single upper stage, the Angara-3 would be capable of delivering up to 14 tons into the low-Earth orbit, LEO, after the launch from Russia's Northern Cosmodrome in Plesetsk. All stages of the rocket would burn ecologically "clean" mix of kerosene and liquid oxygen. The standard version of the Angara-3 would borrow the payload fairing from the Proton rocket. Khrunichev's designers, saw the Angara-3 as a potential launcher for a new generation of its TKS spacecraft, proposed by the company at the beginning of 2005. At the time , a "man-rated" version of the Angara-3 rocket was designated as Angara-A3M. Development At the beginning of 21st century, Khrunichev's promotional documents optimistically projected the introduction of the Angara-3 rocket in 2003 or 2004, however in 2005, the standardized, "rocket module," needed to build the Angara family, was yet to fly. APPENDIX Technical specifications of the RD-191 engine:
Technical specifications of the RD-0124A engine:
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IMAGE ARCHIVE To purchase high-resolution versions of these images or order other renderings contact Anatoly Zak
Scale model of the original version of the Angara-3 rocket. Copyright © 2001 Anatoly Zak
Artist rendering of the Angara-A3M rocket. Click to enlarge: 183 by 400 pixels / 12K Copyright © 2005 by Anatoly Zak |
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