The Angara-A5V reusable rocket surpasses the Falcon 9 in payload capacity

MOSCOW, April 23The Angara-A5B rocket with a hydrogen third stage will be able to launch up to 27 tons of payload into low Earth orbit if it is equipped with returnable first and second stages, General Director of the Khrunichev Center Alexey Varochko said in an interview.
«The payload capacity of the Angara-A5VM rocket in a reusable version, according to calculations carried out as part of the work performed, is estimated at the level of the Angara-A5M rocket, that is, 27 tons to low Earth orbit,» Varochko said.

He added that the company proposed using a combination of the first and second stages of this Angara-A5M or Angara-A5V rocket in a reusable version. According to the General Director of the Center, Khrunichev, within the framework of the protected preliminary design for the creation of Angara-A5B, all theoretical calculations were confirmed. Continuation of work on this topic is planned in the next program period (2026-2035).

“Today, it is planned to provide at least 10 restarts, which should confirm the economic feasibility of this technical solution,” Varochko said, answering the question of how economically efficient the reusable version would be compared to normal.
The most frequently flown of modern reusable rockets, Elon Musk's SpaceX Falcon 9, can launch about 22.8 tons into low Earth orbit, which corresponds to the heavy class of rockets. However, it achieves this load capacity in the disposable version. The reusable Falcon 9 carries 17.5 tons into orbit.

The version of the Angara-A5B rocket with a hydrogen third stage is expected to be able to launch 37.5 tons into low-Earth orbit in a disposable version. To classify it as a super-heavy rocket, such a carrying capacity is not enough. The developers conventionally call it a heavy-class rocket with increased payload capacity.
The only reusable rocket with a larger payload than the Falcon 9 that has completed at least one launch is the super-heavy Falcon Heavy from the same manufacturer. In the version with return stages, it can launch up to 50 tons into orbit, in a completely expendable version — up to 64 tons.