Moscow: The Russian Space Agency, Roscomos, on Thursday successfully launched a Soyuz-2.1a rocket carrying three satellites from the newly-built Vostochny Cosmodrome, conducting its first space launch.
As per reports, the lift-off took place at 5:01am Moscow time (2:01am GMT) on Thursday. About 8 minutes and 44 seconds into the flight, the Volga upper stage carrying three satellites successfully separated from the Soyuz rocket.
Watch: First rocket launch from Vostochny Cosmodrome here
Video credit: Roscomos/Spaceflight101/YouTube
Initially, the launch of the rocket from Vostochny was scheduled on Wednesday, but was postponed due to a failure of the rocket's automatic control system, Sputnik news agency reported.
The liftoff launch was witnessed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who congratulated the countryÂ’s space agency Roscosmos on the successful launch.
"There is something to be proud of," Putin said, adding "there is still a lot of workÂ…but it is undoubtedly a very serious, significant step in the development of the Russian space industry."
Vostochny Cosmodrome with an area of some 700 sq.km has been under construction since 2012 and is expected to reduce Russia's dependency on the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan, which is on lease to Russia until 2050.
Vostochny is located in a desolate in Russia’s Far East area of the Amur Region, which allows spent stages to safely land in the taiga or neutral waters.
(With Agency inputs)
