The Angara-A5 heavy space rocket blasted off from the Plesetsk cosmodrome of the Russian Ministry of Defense in the Arkhangelsk region on Monday, December 14, at 08:50 Moscow time. The rocket is to deliver nearly 2.5 tons of cargo into geostationary orbit. Reportedly, the cargo is of no practical use.
The launch was the second for the Angara-A5 and the third for the Angara rockets. The first and only launch of the light Angara-1.2 rocket took place on July 9, 2014 from Plesetsk. The rocket flew on the ballistic trajectory to the area of the Kura range ground in Kamchatka. The flight lasted for 21 minutes, during which the carrier, together with an undetachable model weighing 1.43 tons, covered 5,700 kilometers.