[2] Additionally, the Soviet Union's main spaceport, Baikonur Cosmodrome, was located in Kazakhstan, and Russia encountered difficulties negotiating for its use.

Several companies submitted bids for the new launch vehicle, and in 1994 Khrunichev, the developer of Proton, was selected as the winner.

The commercial success of Proton over the next two decades would be an advantage to Khrunichev, as the Angara project immediately ran into funding difficulties from the cash-strapped Russian government.

By 1997, the hydrogen-powered second stage had been abandoned in favor of kerosene, and the RD-170 was replaced with a modular design which would be powered by the new RD-191, a one-chamber engine derived from the four-chamber RD-170.

In late 1997, Khrunichev was given approval from the Russian government to proceed with their new design, which would both be able to replace the ICBM-based Dnepr, Tsyklon, and Rokot with its smaller variants, as well as be able to launch satellites into geostationary orbit from Plesetsk with the Proton-class Angara A5.

[14] In June 2020, it was reported that the first Angara Launching Pad was completed and would be transported to Vostochny Cosmodrome.

[18] The RD-191 is a single-chamber engine derived from the four-chamber RD-170, originally developed for the boosters powering the Energia launch vehicle.

At the base of the module is a propulsion bay containing engine gimballing equipment for vehicle pitch and yaw and thrusters for roll control.

[20] The second stage of the Angara, designated URM-2, uses one KBKhA RD-0124A engine also burning liquid oxygen and kerosene.

The URM-1 forming the vehicle's core is operated at full thrust for lift off, then throttled down to 30% to conserve propellant.

[28] Initial plans called for an even smaller Angara 1.1 using a Briz-KM as a second stage, with a payload capacity of 2 tonnes.

This version was cancelled as it fell into the same payload class as the Soyuz 2.1v, which made its debut flight in 2013.

[21] The Angara A3 would consist of one URM-1 core, two URM-1 boosters, the 3.6m URM-2, and an optional Briz-M or hydrogen powered upper stage for high energy orbits.

This version would have 4 URM-1s as boosters surrounding a sustainer core URM-1 but lack a second stage, relying on the spacecraft to complete orbital insertion from a slightly suborbital trajectory, much like the Buran or Space Shuttle.

[32][33] The Angara-100 was a 2005 proposal by Khrunichev to build a heavy-lift launch vehicle for NASA's Vision for Space Exploration.

[5] Design and testing of the RD-191 engine was done by NPO Energomash, while its mass production will take place at the company Proton-PM in Perm, Russia.

[38] This would have allowed the phase out of Proton, a rocket whose operation at Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan has been objected to due to its use of large amounts of highly toxic UDMH and N2O4 and reliability issues.