Kazakhstan becomes spacefaring nation after launch of Soyuz-5

The head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Bakanov, said that Kazakhstan has joined the ranks of spacefaring nations following the launch of the Soyuz-5 medium-class launch vehicle.

The rocket was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on April 30 at 21:00 Moscow time as part of the joint Russian-Kazakh Baiterek project.

“Our colleagues in the Baiterek project from Kazakhstan have now also joined the club of spacefaring nations, and we congratulate them. We will continue to develop this project in order to improve the rocket’s performance characteristics and enable it to carry the maximum possible payloads into orbit,” Bakanov said.

Soyuz-5 is a two-stage rocket standing approximately 64 meters tall. Its first stage is powered by the RD-171MV engine, which Roscosmos describes as the most powerful liquid-fueled rocket engine in the world, while the second stage uses the RD-0124MS engine.

According to Roscosmos, all stages of the rocket operated normally during the launch. The Soyuz-5 has a payload capacity of up to 17 tons and a total height of 64 meters.

By Tamilla Hasanova