May 1 16:00
The Soyuz-5 medium-class launch vehicle was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on April 30 at 21:00 Moscow time. This is the first launch of a new generation rocket as part of flight testing. This was reported by Roscosmos.
“Today a special launch took place – this is the first launch of the new Russian Soyuz-5 rocket with the most powerful liquid rocket engine in the world. <...> Operation of the rocket will significantly reduce the unit cost of the launch load. This will have a positive impact on the economics of spacecraft launches,” the head of Roscosmos Dmitry Bakanov is quoted as saying.
The rocket launch took place from the 45th site of the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The launch of the Soyuz payload into the suborbital trajectory took 9.5 minutes. The first and second stages of the rocket operated normally; after launch, the overall mass mock-up fell in an area of the Pacific Ocean previously closed to shipping and aviation.
According to the head of Roscosmos, one of the features of the rocket is the high accuracy of launching the payload into low-Earth orbit; its payload capacity is 17 tons. Created in partnership with Kazakhstan within the framework of the Baytrek project, the Soyuz-5 launch vehicle will create new jobs in Russia and Kazakhstan, “new opportunities, a new step in space exploration,” he concluded.
Previously, it was planned to launch Soyuz-5 before the end of 2025. The launch timing was then adjusted to allow for additional checks of both on-board systems and ground equipment.
