The Council of Main designers at Khrunichev Space Center has planned to hold the first launch of a Rokot conversion rocket on May 15-16, the Center’s press service told Interfax.
At a meeting recently, the council noted that prepa-rations for the launch from Plesetsk space center are go-ing according to plan.
The Council noted that independent testing of all systems has been carried out at the launch complex in Plesetsk, with positive results. In addition, the Breeze-KM booster unit is also prepared for launch.
The first launch of the Rokot from the northern space center will be made with a mock satellite on board, a Khrunichev representative said.
In the future it is planned to use the Rokot to launch satellites with a mass of 450 kilograms into orbit at a height of 500 kilometers to study the Earth’s gravitational field, as part of the Russian-German-U.S. Grace pro-gram.
The Khrunichev press center stressed that manage-ment at the center have high hopes for launches with Rokot rockets from Plesetsk. In particular, as already re-ported, Khrunichev General Director Anatoly Kiselyov has announced the acquisition of 45 ballistic rockets, to be converted into Rocket carrier rockets, with Breeze-K booster units.
