In a startling display of the continued militarization of space, Russia It is the largest rocket launch since the collapse of the Soviet Union 30 years ago.
Weighing in at 761 tonnes, the 210 ft Angara A-5 took off with a simulated payload from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia.
President Vladimir Putin Celebrate the launch on Monday as officials intensify their warnings Ukraine, the latest generation of rockets could carry military satellites into space – where experts predict future conflicts will be won and lost.
Weighing in at 761 tonnes, the 210 ft Angara A-5 took off with a simulated payload from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia.
The launch came as Russian officials compared NATO to the Wehrmacht – the German army that invaded Russia in 1941 – and compared a potential conflict in Ukraine with the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.
launch came As Russian officials compare NATO to the Wehrmacht – German military invasion of Russia in 1941 – and compared the possible conflict in Ukraine to the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.
Russia’s space program launched the first satellite in 1957 and sent the first man into space in 1961. But since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, it has been plagued by corruption and technical failures.
This was the third launch of the new rocket after its maiden voyage in 2014.
“Roscosmos congratulates the military-space forces and the entire Russian space industry,” the agency said in a statement.
The head of the agency, Dmitry Rogozin, welcomed the news on Telegram, writing: ‘Come on, baby!’
The Defense Ministry said: ‘All prelaunch operations and the launch of the Angara-A5 rocket went well.’
The last launch of the heavy-class Angara rocket was in December 2020.
President Vladimir Putin hopes the new launchers will revive Russia’s space industry and reduce dependence on other former Soviet countries
The Angara rockets – named after a Siberian river flowing from Lake Baikal – are the first new family of launchers to be built after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
They are designed to replace the Proton rockets of the 1960s and have suffered a series of failures in recent years.
President Vladimir Putin hopes the new launchers will revive Russia’s space industry and reduce dependence on other former Soviet countries.
Officials say the heavy-class Angara rocket is more eco-friendly than its predecessors because it is loaded with oxygen and kerosene instead of the highly toxic heptyl.
The Russian space program sent the first man into space in 1961 and launched the first satellite four years earlier.
But since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, it has been plagued by corruption scandals and a series of other setbacks, having lost expensive spacecraft and satellites in recent years.