Family: Angara
Angara 1.2
Launch statistics
- 7
- Launches (as of July 27, 2026)
- 1
- Successes
- 0
- Failures
- 100.0 %
- Success rate
Angara-1.2 is a Russian two-stage small-lift launch vehicle built by Khrunichev and part of the Angara family. It is sized to place up to 3.5 t into low Earth orbit and up to 2.4 t into Sun-synchronous orbit, standing about 41.5 m tall with a 2.9 m diameter and a launch mass of roughly 171.5 t. Its first stage is a Universal Rocket Module URM-1, the same element that makes up the first and second stages of the heavy Angara A5. It is a complete structure 2.9 m in diameter and 25.1 m long fitted with a closed-cycle RD-191 engine created at NPO Energomash from the RD-170 that powered Zenit and Energia. In the light configuration the URM-1 additionally carries a block of controllable gas nozzles, aerodynamic rudders for roll control and an intermediate compartment connecting to the second stage. The second stage differs from the A5's URM-2 module: it carries a smaller propellant load and keeps the URM-1's 2.9 m diameter. It uses an RD-0124A staged-combustion engine developed at KBHA from the RD-0124 of the Soyuz-2, with a benchmark specific impulse among kerolox engines. Because that stage cannot be restarted, the final orbit is shaped by a detachable aggregate module "AM" burning dinitrogen tetroxide and UDMH with four 11D458 engines and fourteen 17D58E attitude thrusters. Therein lies the key difference from the rest of the Angara family: the 1.2 is the single-module configuration, with no additional URM-1 boosters.
History
First suborbital flight
An Angara-1.2 flew for the first time on 9 July 2014, but in a non-standard configuration designated Angara-1.2PP: the second stage was the Angara A5's 3.6 m diameter URM-2 module, with no aggregate module, and the mission followed a suborbital trajectory with an inseparable payload. It was a validation test of the vehicle rather than an operational launch.
Debut of the operational configuration
The first flight of Angara-1.2 in its standard configuration took place on 29 April 2022 from Site 35 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, carrying the military satellite Kosmos-2555 towards Sun-synchronous orbit. The launcher performed, but the payload made no orbit-raising manoeuvres and re-entered on 18 May, pointing to a spacecraft failure. Something similar happened to Kosmos-2560, launched on 15 October 2022 and decayed from orbit that December.
Production and infrastructure
Angara family rockets are manufactured by the Polyot production association, Khrunichev's Omsk branch, while the parent company handles the 1.2's aggregate module. Serial production was planned to begin in 2023, but in September 2022 it was announced that this would be postponed to 2024. All launches take place from Site 35 at Plesetsk; a launch complex is planned at the Vostochny Cosmodrome. The payload fairing, made of two flaps with a three-layer cellular shell, is 2.9 m in diameter and 9.2 m long, offering about 25 m³ of usable volume housing the aggregate module, the payload adapter and the spacecraft.
Record
As of April 2026, seven launches had been carried out in the Angara 1.2 modification, all of them successful; the most recent on 23 April 2026.
Launch timeline
| Date | Launch site | Outcome | Payload |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 23, 2026, 8:29 AM | 35/1 | Success | 4 classified satellites for the Russian military, presumably for optical reconnaissance purposes. |
Versions
| Angara-1.2PP | Angara-1.2 (configuración estándar) | |
|---|---|---|
| First launch | July 9, 2014 | April 29, 2022 |
| Last launch | July 9, 2014 | April 23, 2026 |
| Height | — | 42.2 m |
| Diameter | — | 2.9 m |
| Mass | — | 171,500 kg |
| Stages | 2 Best value in this row | 2 Best value in this row |
| LEO capacity | — | 3,500 kg |
| Reusable | No | No |
Images