Russia was to debut its first new design of space rocket since the Soviet era in a launch from its own territory on Friday, aiming to end its reliance on the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and on foreign suppliers.
More than two decades in the making, the Angara-1.2PP's maiden flight will test Russia's ability to turn around a once-pioneering space industry that is struggling to recover from a brain drain and years of budget curbs.
Work on the Angara began after the break-up of the Soviet Union, when Moscow lost the maker of its Zenit and Dnepr rockets as well as the Baikonur launch site, based respectively in the newly independent republics of Ukraine and Kazakhstan.