|
|
|
    
|
||||||||||
Soyuz-5 flies its first test mission Russia's new-generation launch vehicle, intended to replace the Ukrainian-built Zenit, completed its inaugural flight on April 30, 2026.
First Soyuz-5 launch at a glance:
The final preparations for launch were taking place throughout the day on April 30, 2026, with the launch window intentionally extended from the 4.5-hour window (from 10:30 to 14:30 UTC) to a 10.5-hour window opening at 10:30 and extending until 21:00 UTC. After the successful fueling of the rocket, the holding arm of the transporter-erector system TUA (from the Russian Transportno-Ustanovochny Agregat) was supposed to begin retracting from the vehicle around 17 minutes before liftoff and its move was to be completed around five minutes before launch. Some three minutes before the liftoff, a battery-powered locomotive was scheduled to pull the TUA away from the pad. The first Soyuz-5 rocket lifted off from Site 45 at Baikonur Cosmodrome on April 30, 2026, at 21:00 Moscow Time (2 p.m. EDT, 20:00 UTC). The launch vehicle headed north before turning east. As it transpired later based on Roskosmos releases, known impact zone restrictions and on unofficial info, the first stage (INSIDER CONTENT), propelled by the RD-171MV engine (INSIDER CONTENT), operated for 2 minutes and 59 seconds, before separating at Launch+179.00 seconds and crashing in the Sverdlovsk Region of Russia. Five seconds later, the payload fairing, designed to protect the payload, split into two sections and separated as well at L+185.00 seconds. The RD-0124MS engine (INSIDER CONTENT) of the second stage (INSIDER CONTENT) ignited shortly before the separation of the first stage and, initially, fired through a lattice structure connecting the two stages. Once separated, the second stage turned east in a so-called "dog-leg" maneuver to ensure its eventual splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. The payload fairing separated L+3 minutes 5 seconds into the flight, during the operation of the second stage. The second-stage engine began throttling down at L+560 seconds and was cut off around 570 seconds into the flight, after a roughly 6.5-minute burn and just short of orbital velocity. The booster then began a long descent and reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. As a result, the flight was expected to be suborbital with its mass simulator, known as GMM (from the Russian Gabaritno-Massovy Maket), remaining attached to the second stage. After the second-stage engine cutoff, the simulation of the split between the dummy payload and the second stage was conducted at L+9 minutes and 32 seconds after liftoff (L+572.00 seconds), near the peak of the suborbital trajectory. According to a post-launch announcement from Roskosmos, the flight went as scheduled, with the first and second stages working as planned and the GMM mockup delivered to a planned suborbital trajectory concluding with an impact in the restricted area of the Pacific Ocean. 
The first Soyuz-5 launch came after months of delays under a severe informational blackout with a few milestones known immediately after the completion of the campaign:
|
|
|||||||||
|
