PARIS — The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, on Sept. 3 said the new Vostochny spaceport in Russia’s Far East, intended in part to reduce the nation’s reliance on the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, would still be ready to launch new-generation Soyuz-2 rockets by 2015 and modular Angara vehicles, now in development, by 2020, despite delays.
A third stage in the construction of the spaceport, located at 51.5 degrees north latitude, will be dedicated to building a next-generation heavy-lift vehicle for launches starting in 2030, the agency said.
The Roscosmos statement came after a visit to Vostochny by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who applauded the work done thus far on the spaceport but noted that many facilities remained behind schedule.
Roscosmos said preliminary designs for the new vehicle began earlier this year, with full design work to start in 2016.
