OREANDA-NEWS. The rocket Angara-A5 was launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome located in the Arkhangesk Region of Russia. The launch took place at 8:50 Moscow time (5:50 UTC). At 8:53 the rocket was taken for escort by ground-based means of the Aerospace Forces of Russia. This was reported by the Department of Information and Mass Communications of the Ministry of Defense.

The rocket went into orbit with a mockup spacecraft weighing 2.4 tons. It will be delivered to geostationary orbit. This is the maximum weight that Angara can carry.

The rocket launch was commented on by the head of Roscosmos Space Corporation, Dmitry Rogozin. “It can fly, damn it!!!” he wrote on his Twitter page.

Media recall that Angara uses environmentally friendly fuel components. This is the second launch of Angara-A5. The first took place in December 2014.