Russia to create Angara rocket launch pad

Russia and Brazil are in talks aimed at creating a launch pad for the Angara space rockets at the Alcantara Launch Center on the northern Atlantic coast, Aleksandr Medvedev, general designer of the rocket's manufacturer Khrunichev Centre, has said.

Medvedev told TASS news agency that making launches from the equator were a promising and very competitive option. "There have been ideas and proposals for building a separate launch complex for Angara at the Alcantara centre in Brazil... Talks are in progress."

Earlier, there were reports of plans to relocate the Sea Launch project to Brazil, which over several years was used to put in space Russian-Ukrainian Zenit rockets from a floating launch pad.

Brazil is pushing ahead with its own space programme but has not managed to launch a single space rocket of its own manufacture. Several launch attempts at the Alcantara space centre ended in failure.