MOSCOW (AP) – Russia has successfully tested its heavy lift Ankara A5 space rocket for the second time, the country’s military and space officials say.
The rocket was launched Monday morning from the Plesetsk Cosmotrome in northwestern Russia.
“It flies, damn it!” Dmitry Rogozin, head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, tweeted after the launch.
Its first successful test launch took place in 2014, when Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed it as “a great achievement for our space rocket industry and for Russia in general.”
The Ankara A5 Proton M is designed to replace the heavy lift rocket, but has suffered from its development and production delays and technical issues.
On Monday, Roscosmos increased the environmental protection of Ankara rockets because they “do not use aggressive and toxic impulses, significantly enhancing environmental protection in areas and droplet zones near the launch site.”