At the Satellite 2015 conference in Washington D.C., Phil Slack, president of the Khrunichev subsidiary, International Launch Services (ILS), revealed that the company is to offer commercial launches on the smallest rocket in the Angara family, the Angara 1. These launches will take place from the space port at Plesetsk in Northern Russia, from as early as 2016.
The Angara 1 configuration can loft approximately 3 metric tons to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The Angara 3 launch vehicle will follow, offering a payload capacity of upto 14 metric tons to LEO.
However, the version capable of serving the Geostationary market, the Angara 5, will not be commercially available until 2021 when the new more southerly Russian launch facility at Vostochny becomes available. Until then the Proton M launch vehicle will soldier on in this role, though it will not be fully replaced by the Angara 5 until 2025. Proton operates from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, near Tyuratam in Kazakhstan.
