Moscow – Russia's Foundation for Advanced Studies is planning to implement the Air Launch project in the 2020s – the launch of an orbital spaceplane from a super-heavy transport aircraft, according to a report of the public council of the Russian government's military-industrial commission, which was released at a meeting of the council in the State Duma on April 23.
“A multipurpose aerospace system could be the first step towards the commercialization of space – the project, sufficiently developed in the 1980-1990s, of a two-stage space complex, which consists of a carrier aircraft (An-225 Mriya) and an orbital spacecraft launched from it – a spaceplane,” reads one of the paragraphs in the section of priority areas of research and development.
An orbital spaceplane, according to the report, could be both manned and unmanned. The launch of a disposable cargo rocket stage instead of a spaceplane is also being considered.
The advantage of the project is the fact that one of its main elements has already been created – the An-225 Mriya super-heavy transport aircraft, “the construction of which could be resumed at minimal cost during the implementation of the project to restart the mass production of An-124 Ruslans, given that that the Mriya was built on the basis of Ruslan technology and on the basis of its parts,” reads the report.
The second prototype Mriya aircraft, which remains unfinished in Kyiv, could be used to test the system.
“The Russian Defense Ministry is already discussing the acquisition of this aircraft,” reads the report.
