Russia to start work on adapting Vostochny spaceport for Oryol spacecraft launches

MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/. The work to further equip systems and assemblies of the launch pad at the Vostochny Cosmodrome for the future Oryol spacecraft will begin before the end of April, CEO of the Center for the Operation of Ground-based Space Infrastructure Ruslan Mukhamedzhanov told TASS on Wednesday. "Now work is nearing completion to draft a conceptual design of the space compound and preparations are underway to further equip systems and assemblies. This effort will begin in April following the results of the conceptual design’s acceptance by the state customer and the issuance of regulatory and administrative documents for starting the works," he said. Minimal costs and the maximum use of the existing configuration of systems and assemblies being created will be major criteria for formulating technical solutions to adapt the launch pad for the future spacecraft, the chief executive said. "By the time of the first launch of the future transport spacecraft, all the necessary equipment should be created to carry out all the operations and tests of the spacecraft at the launch compound, except for the crew’s boarding the spaceship," he explained. Russia subsequently plans to launch the Oryol spacecraft atop a super-heavy carrier rocket and the relevant infrastructure will be built as part of the third stage of construction at the Vostochny spaceport, the Center’s head said. Russia is developing its new Oryol manned spacecraft (previously known as the Federatsiya) for lunar missions. Its first flight without a crew is planned for December 15, 2023 from the Vostochny spaceport without docking to the International Space Station. The Oryol spacecraft is set to perform its second flight also without cosmonauts in 2024 with the subsequent docking to the space station. The spacecraft is expected to make a crewed flight in 2025. Read more