Russia's state commission has greenlighted the refueling and launch of the last Soyuz-2 carrier rocket that uses kerosene as fuel from the Vostochny cosmodrome, Russian state space agency Roscosmos told Sputnik on Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th October, 2021) Russia's state commission has greenlighted the refueling and launch of the last Soyuz-2 carrier rocket that uses kerosene as fuel from the Vostochny cosmodrome, Russian state space agency Roscosmos told Sputnik on Thursday.
The agency referred to the launch of the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with 36 communication satellites of UK company OneWeb, scheduled for 09:40 GMT on Thursday. Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin said that this would be the last launch of the vehicle fueled with kerosene.
"The state commission has made the decision on refueling the launch vehicle and its subsequent launch," the agency's press service said.
Earlier this year, Roscosmos announced plans to switch all stages of the Soyuz-2 launch complex at the Vostochny cosmodrome from kerosene to environmentally friendly rocket fuel, naphthyl, by February 2022. Currently, naphthyl is used only in the third stage of the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket.
The fuel transition is part of a broader Soyuz modernization program that will help reduce harmful emissions and significantly increase the payload launched into orbit.
