MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th November, 2019) Rough design of Russia's planned Soyuz-5 carrier rocket complex to replace the Zenit rocket, made by Ukraine, will be ready in late 2020, a year later than scheduled, materials shared with Sputnik showed on Thursday.
In July 2017, Russian space agency Roscosmos concluded a 61.2 billion ruble ($960 million) contract with the Energiya rocket company for the construction of the Soyuz-5 system. The rocket is planned to be launched for the first time from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in 2023.
According to the official materials, shared with Sputnik, the date of submission of the rough design for the Soyuz-5 complex was rescheduled from October 30, 2019, to October 30, 2020.
Work on the creation of the Soyuz-5 rocket, also referred to as Irtysh, began in 2016. The first stage is planned to be equipped with the RD-171MB engine, a modernized version of the first stage for the Ukrainian Zenit rocket. Two RD-0124MS engines, which are a modernized version of the Soyuz-2.1b rocket's third stage, will be installed on the second stage, instead of Ukrainian-produced RD-120 engines for Zenit.
The Russian-Kazakh Bayterek system is currently being under construction on Baikonur. It includes the Russian-made Soyuz-5 rocket and a launch site for the Zenit rocket that is being modernized by Kazakhstan. The former Soviet republic, which leases the cosmodrome to Russia, is expected to cover around one-third of the overall cost of Bayterek construction.
