Roscosmos, Russia's state space corporation, is now producing the last four Proton rockets before ending manufacturing of this legendary yet aging and highly toxic launcher. These final units will bridge the transition to the modern Angara family.
As Russia's primary heavy-lift vehicle, the Proton rocket debuted in the early 1960s and achieved its first flight in 1965 amid the intense U.S.-Soviet space race. Over the decades, more than 420 Protons have launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome, though with a roughly 10% failure rate—some incidents drawing global attention. Notably, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet rode a Proton to the ISS in 2016, prior to his SpaceX Crew Dragon mission in 2021.
Today, Proton's highly toxic propellants fall short of modern environmental standards. With a payload capacity of 23.7 metric tons to low Earth orbit, it faces stiff commercial competition, especially from SpaceX's Falcon 9, which delivers lower costs and insurance risks. Proton launches have dwindled from over a dozen annually to at most three per year since 2015.
Manufacturer Khrunichev Center is shifting focus to the Angara family to revive Russia's launch prowess. Success hinges on slashing Angara-A5 costs from $100 million to the targeted $57 million per launch by 2024—still far above SpaceX's sub-$30 million Falcon 9 flights.
Roscosmos recently announced assembly of the final four Proton-M rockets at the Khrunichev Center's Fili plant in Moscow. These will join ten others already prepared, forming a stockpile of 14.
Russia aims to fly these final 14 Protons over the next four to five years. In parallel, key missions like military communications satellites will migrate to the Angara-A5, which aced test flights in 2014, 2020, and 2021.
