MOSCOW, March 1 (RIA Novosti) - Russia began designing a new launch pad for the Amur heavy carrier rocket at the Vostochny Space Center that is currently under construction in the Amur Region in the country’s Far East, the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) reported on Friday.

Roscosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin led a staff meeting at the agency that focused on the results of space industry development in 2012 and the tasks facing the agency and the space and rocket industries in 2013.

Popovkin said construction of the Vostochny infrastructure and technological facilities is underway.

The Amur carrier rocket is being designed on the basis of the Angara carrier rocket. The Angara rocket family’s key purpose is to reduce Russia’s dependence on the Baikonur Space Center, which the country leases from Kazakhstan. Construction of Vostochny serves the same goal.