The Soyuz-5 (Sunkar) completed its inaugural launch late Thursday night, marking the operational debut of the modernized Baiterek launch infrastructure, Qazinform News Agency correspondent reports. The Soyuz-5 rocket, carrying a mock payload, had been transported on March 31 via the Baikonur Cosmodrome’s railway from the assembly and testing facility at Site 42 and installed vertically on the launch pad at Site 45.
For nearly a month, comprehensive tests of the ground complex and the new rocket were conducted at the Baiterek launch site. The first test launch was carried out along a suborbital trajectory, without placing the mock payload into Earth orbit. The main objective was to test the performance of the launch complex equipment, rocket engines, onboard systems, and software.
The Baiterek space rocket complex is a joint project between Kazakhstan and Russia to develop ground-based space infrastructure at the Baikonur Cosmodrome for launches using rockets powered by environmentally friendly fuel components. Earlier, it was reported NASA’s Artemis II Orion capsule has returned to the Kennedy Space Center in the US state of Florida after completing the first crewed spacecraft mission to the Moon in more than 50 years.