Russia's brand new Soyuz-5 rocket made its first flight on Saturday, lifting off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Thursday on a suborbital demonstration mission with a dummy payload that will pave the way for its entry into service.
This launch is something the Baikonur Cosmodrome has not witnessed for many decades – the debut of a new rocket rather than a modification of an existing launch vehicle.
While most of Russia's active launch vehicles are iterations on well-established designs — a notable exception being the more modern Angara, which does not launch from Baikonur — these can only be evolved so far.
