Vostochny Cosmodrome

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Coordinates: 51 ° 49 '  N , 128 ° 18'  E

Map: Russia
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Vostochny Cosmodrome​
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Russia

The Vostochny Cosmodrome ( Russian Космодром Восточный ; German "Eastern Spaceport") is a Russian spaceport in the Amur region a good 100 km east of the border with China . The cosmodrome is located on the site of the former Svobodny rocket launch site in the northeast of the city of Tsiolkovsky ( Uglegorsk until 2015 ). Vostochny complements the on Kazakh lying area Baikonur Cosmodrome and the dependence of Kazakhstan is intended to reduce.

history

The Russian cosmodrome on the day before the first launch with the rocket on the launch pad
Model of the launch site LC-1 (for Soyuz-2 ) on the Vostochny Cosmodrome at the MAKS 2013

On November 21, 2007, President Vladimir Putin signed the decree on the construction of the spaceport. The exact location was determined at the end of 2008 and is in the eastern area of ​​the recently closed Svobodny Cosmodrome, about 150 km north of Blagoveshchensk in the area of ​​the Pera River, about 250 m above sea level. According to the planning at the time, the cosmodrome should cover an area of ​​750 km 2 ; the construction work should start in 2010, last eight years and take place in three stages. In fact, construction began in mid-2012. The investment required for the first stage was estimated at 251 billion rubles - at that time the equivalent of about 6.3 billion euros. The former RKK Energija boss Nikolai Sevastyanov was responsible for the construction .

After construction delays, Vice Prime Minister Dmitri Rogozin took over the coordination of the construction site in 2014. Despite the now obvious priority of the Russian government for the new spaceport, the project did not seem to develop according to plan, as workers on the construction site went on a hunger strike in April 2015 due to non-payment of wages.

In October 2015 it was announced that parts of the assembly halls planned for the Soyuz-2 were too small for the rocket. In addition, several cases of corruption and mismanagement became known. There was still a lack of a secure electricity, water and heat supply. The opening planned for December 2015 could therefore not take place.

The spaceport was officially opened on April 12, 2016. However, unlike originally planned, manned take-offs with Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS are not possible from there, as the Soyuz is only designed for landings on land. In the ascent phase, the flight path from Vostochny leads over the Sea of ​​Okhotsk , the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Pacific Ocean , so that if the take-off is aborted, a splashdown could be necessary.

Launch ramps

Several launch ramps are planned. The most important are:

  • Ramp 1S - Soyuz-2 , in operation since 2016
  • Ramp 1A - Angara A5 , under construction since 2019, use planned from 2021

First start

Start of Soyuz-2.1a in April 2016
Start of Soyuz-2.1a in April 2016

The first Soyuz-2 rocket, still without a payload, was brought to launch pad 1S on March 21, 2016 for test purposes. On April 28 at 02:01 UTC, it launched the two satellites Mikhail Lomonosov and Aist in the presence of President Vladimir Putin . The start had been postponed the day before due to a valve failure, Putin had stayed at the site.

Start list

List as of December 31, 2019

Time ( UTC ) Type launch pad payload Remarks
2016
April 28, 2016 02:01 Soyuz-2.1a / Volga 1S

Mikhail Lomonossow (gamma telescope )
AIST 2
SamSat 218

success
2017
Nov 28, 2017 02:41 Soyuz-2.1b / Fregat 1S

Meteor-M2-1
18 small satellites

Bust 1
2018
Feb. 1, 2018 02:07 Soyuz-2.1a / Fregat 1S Canopus V 3 and 4 success
Dec. 27, 2018 02:07 Soyuz-2.1a / Fregat 1S Canopus-V 5 and 6 success
2019
5th July 2019 05:41 Soyuz-2.1b / Fregat 1S Meteor-M 2-2
8 Lemur
24 small satellites 		success
1The Fregat upper level, which was started for the first time by Vostochny, was inadvertently programmed with the start coordinates of the Baikonur cosmodrome. As a result, it flew in the wrong direction and did not enter Earth orbit. All payloads were lost.

Web links

Commons : Vostochny Cosmodrome  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Putin Signs Off on New Cosmodrome . Space.com, November 21, 2008 (English)
  2. ↑ FliegerRevue June 2009, pp. 39–41, Russia's new spaceport
  3. ↑ Russia's new star city for space travel day. .RUFO, April 12, 2013, accessed September 4, 2014 .
  4. ^ Gerhard Kowalski: Construction site Wostochniy: sloppiness on Putin's spaceport. Spiegel Online, September 16, 2014, accessed September 16, 2014 .
  5. ^ Accident series: Russian aerospace bosses are said to be personally liable for breakdowns. spiegel.de, May 18, 2015, accessed on April 28, 2016 .
  6. ↑ Radio Echo Moscow: Размещение ракеты-носителя "Союз-2" на космодроме "Восточный" пока остается под вопросом. October 1, 2015, retrieved on October 5, 2015 (in Russian): "По его словам, сооружение, где должны были производиться мойка и обогрев пребывающих на космодром блоков , запроектировано под другую модификацию ракеты-носителя« Союз »и не соответствует габаритам доставленного на космодром изделия. Теперь, как пояснил собеседник агентства, "Союз-2" будут пытаться перевезти в зал Восточного Восточного восточного. ... В частности, до сих пор не сданы в эксплуатацию краны для сборки ракеты, системя увентиляцери, вожерки ракеты, системя увентиляцен, ивентиляцен, кожерки.
  7. ^ Gerhard Kowalski: Russian spaceport: Putin's largest construction site. spiegel.de, October 27, 2015, accessed on April 28, 2016 .
  8. ↑ New spaceport: Russia plans first rocket launch from 2018. sputniknews.com, August 30, 2010, accessed on September 9, 2010 .
  9. ↑ Gerhard Kowalski: Cosmodrome Vostochniy: Putin's spaceport has a problem. spiegel.de, April 26, 2016, accessed on April 28, 2016 .
  10. ^ Anatoly Zak, Alain Chabot: Vostochny prepares for its first launch. russianspaceweb.com, April 14, 2016, accessed April 15, 2016 .
  11. ^ William Graham and Chris Bergin: Vostochny begins work on a second launch pad set to host Angara rockets . Nasaspaceflight.com, September 3, 2019.
  12. ↑ РОСКОСМОС. КОСМОДРОМ ВОСТОЧНЫЙ - "СУХОЙ ВЫВОЗ" РН "СОЮЗ-2" ИДЕТ ШТАТНО. Roscosmos, March 21, 2016, accessed March 23, 2016 (Russian).
  13. ↑ boj / AFP: Wostochnij: First rocket launch at the new Russian spaceport postponed. spiegel.de, April 27, 2016, accessed on April 28, 2016 .
  14. ↑ Russia launched the first rocket from the new spaceport. orf.at, April 28, 2016, accessed April 28, 2016 .
  15. ↑ TASS: Putin congratulates Roscosmos, Vostochny builders on successful rocket launch. tass.ru, April 28, 2016, accessed April 28, 2016 .
  16. ↑ Reuters Staff: Russia says cannot make contact with new space satellite. Reuters, November 28, 2017, accessed November 28, 2017 .
  17. ↑ Stephen Clark: Russian official blames Nov. 28 launch failure on botched software programming. In: Spaceflight Now. December 30, 2017, accessed September 7, 2019 .