Russia plans to launch the new heavy-class Angara-A5 carrier rocket in 2016, Andrei Kalinovsky, the acting head of the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, said on Wednesday.

      "We will finish the rocket's additional construction this year, and it will be ready for the launch scheduled for 2016", Kalinovsky told the press.

      The test launch of Angara-A5 took place in December 2014. The rocket's first flight has become quite successfull - it launched a dummy payload into orbit as it was planned.

      The Angara rockets and other space-launch vehicles are made to provide lifting capabilities of between four and 35 metric tons, which it can launch into low Earth orbits. It has been in development since 1995. In the future the rockets are expected to ensure Russia's independent access to outer space.