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Angara Rocket to Launch Wednesday Afternoon

Russia will launch its first new space rocket since the Soviet era on Wednesday, Interfax news agency quoted a source at the launch site as saying. 

The rocket's planned maiden flight was postponed last minute last month. The launch of the Angara-1.2PP rocket is seen as key to President Vladimir Putin's plan to reform Russia's once-pioneering space industry that has seen a series of costly and embarrassing failures in recent years.

Anatoly Zak, an expert on the Russian space program, wrote on his website, Russianspaceweb.com, that the launch is scheduled for 4:00 PM Moscow time and will not be televised, as Russian space officials considered June 27's last-minute launch abort on live television to have been highly embarrassing. 

Material from The Moscow Times was used in this report.

Read our in-depth look at the Angara program.

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