L'info en direct du site de Khrunitchev:
The Khrunichev Space Center is shipping the mockup
of KSLV-I Stage 1 to South Korea. Khrunichev is building KSLV-I (Korean
Space Launch Vehicle) Stage 1 for the Naro Space Center.
Today the container with the mockup and ground
support equipment will depart for Ulianovsk by train. It will be
reloaded on board the aircraft to be flown to the South Korean port
city of Pusan. The mockup will continue its journey from there by sea
to the Naro Space Center on the Oenaro Island where a launch center is
being built.
The container is 36 meters long. It will travel on
board the heavy-lift AN-124-100 “Ruslan” operated by the Russian Polyot
carrier. Polyot, an authorized carrier of the Federal Space Agency,
specializes in heavy and/or oversized cargoes.
Theplane with the mockup on board is scheduled to take off from the Vostochny Airport of Ulianovsk on August the 9th.
At
the Naro Space Center, Russian and Korean specialists will use the
mockup for a series of acceptance tests involving ground integration
and launch facilities.
These efforts are covered by the bi-lateral
inter-governmental agreement on space exploration between Russia and
S.Korea signed in October 2004. The agreement calls for joint
development of the S.Korean space launcher complex including the KSLV-I
small-lift booster.
KSLV-I Stage 1 will be developed by the Khrunichev
Space Center while Stage 2 and payload will be designed and built in
S.Korea.
The S.Korean customer is the Korea Aerospace
Research Institute (KARI). The Russian side is represented by the
Khrunichev Space Center which has overall responsibility for the
project, NPO Energomash (Stage 1 propulsion system) and KBTM which
designs the ground facilities.
