Work on the blueprints for an aviation-rocket vehicle, part of a project developed by the aerospace corporation Air Launch, will be soon completed.
Corporation President Anatoly Karpov has said the Air Launch project has three segments: rocket, aircraft, and space.
In an interview published in the Saturday edition of Vremya, Karpov identifies the designers of the three segments. Co-designing the missile segment are the corporation Energiya and related enterprises. Developing the engine for the first stage of the vehicle is the Samara- based Kuznetsov plant.
Its Ukrainian counterpart, the Antonov plant (in Kiev) is responsible for land-based aircraft maintenance facilities. The Progress Company is in charge of the space segment-the creation of a base aerodrome and fuel storage facilities.
By the end of 2000, Air Launch plans to have completed work on the technical documents for the project and proceed to feasible contracts that will make the project possible, as Karpov put it, “in metal.”
The list of Air Launch co-founders includes the aviation company Polyot (Voronezh), Energiya (the town of Korolyov outside of Moscow), the Antonov plant, the Pilyugin automatic equipment and instrument making plant (Moscow), and Progress.
The Russian government announced its support for the Air Launch project on May 24 of this year, and included it in the national space program.
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