This is the moment a new Russian heavy launch vehicle rocket – the first to be developed after the collapse of the Soviet Union 30 years ago – blasts off a launchpad for a test flight.

It is the third test flight for the new Angara-A5 heavy-class launch vehicle, which took off from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, located in the town of Mirny, in the Arkhangelsk Oblast region, some 800 kilometres (500 miles) north of Moscow. The launch took place at 10 p.m. local time on December 27.

Footage shows the heavy carrier rocket ready to take off as the camera pans around it. It then showed the same rocket at night with it for the blasting off the launchpad.

The Russian Ministry of Defence said: ‘On Monday, December 27, 2021, at 22:00 Moscow time from the State test cosmodrome of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (Plesetsk cosmodrome) in the Arkhangelsk region, the combat crew of the Space Forces of the Aerospace Forces launched the Angara-A5 heavy-class launch vehicle.

‘All prelaunch operations and the launch of the Angara-A5 rocket took place in the normal mode. The means of the ground-based automated control complex of the Aerospace Forces monitored the launch and flight of the launch vehicle.

‘Three minutes after the launch, the Angara-A5 launch vehicle was taken for escort by ground-based means of the V.I. German Titov of the Aerospace Forces of the Aerospace Forces.

‘At the estimated time, the Perseus upper stage routinely separated from the third stage of the Angara-A5 launch vehicle and began launching a non-separable overall-mass payload model into the calculated orbit.’

The third stage and the heavy rocket’s dummy payload reportedly separated 12 minutes after launch.

The Angora-A5 heavy-lift launch vehicle conducted its first test flight on December 23, 2014. Its second test flight took place on December 14, 2020. This test flight, which took off in December 27was the third.

News of this test flight comes just days after the USD 10-billion (GBP 7.4-billion) James Webb Space Telescope launched atop an Ariane 5 rocket from French Breanna to become the biggest space telescope ever sent into space by humans. Its goal is to explore the early universe, as well as nearby exoplanets and more.