MOSCOW (AP) – Russia successfully launched a test run for the second time on Monday with its Angara A5 space rocket, the country’s military and space officials said.
The rocket took off Monday morning from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northwestern Russia.
“It bloody flies!” Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, tweeted after the launch.
The first successful test launch took place in 2014 and was hailed by Russian President Vladimir Putin as “an important achievement for our space rocket industry and for Russia in general”.
The Angara A5 was designed to replace the Proton M heavy-haulage missile, but development and manufacturing are plagued by delays and technical difficulties.
Roscosmos on Monday praised the increased environmental safety of the Angara missiles, as they “do not use aggressive and toxic propellants, significantly increasing environmental safety, both in the areas adjacent to the launch complex and in the drop zones.”