Moscow, Apr 28 (IANS): Russian authorities on Thursday launched a Soyuz-2.1a rocket carrying three satellites from the newly-built Vostochny Cosmodrome located in the country's Far East.
On Wednesday, the launch of the rocket from Vostochny was postponed due to a failure of the rocket's automatic control system, Sputnik news agency reported.
Russian President Vladimir Putin witnessed the liftoff and congratulated the country’s space agency Roscosmos on the successful launch.
"There is something to be proud of," Putin said, adding "there is still a lot of work…but it is undoubtedly a very serious, significant step in the development of the Russian space industry."
Vostochny Cosmodrome with an area of some 700 sq.km, has been under construction since 2012 and is expected to reduce Russia's dependency on the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan, which is on lease to Russia until 2050.