Russia launches first rocket from Vostochny cosmodrome

Russia launched its inaugural rocket from the Vostochny cosmodrome on April 28 at 05:01am Moscow time, Reuters reports.

An unmanned Soyuz-2.1A rocket carrying three satellites (Lomonosov, Aist-2D and SamSat-218) roared off into a sky from the launch pad at Vostochny cosmodrome in the remote Amur Region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Russia’s Roscosmos space corporation and the builders of the Far Eastern Vostochny spaceport on the successful launch of the first carrier rocket .

"I would like to congratulate you. The rocket could have been launched yesterday but the automatics overreacted and halted the blastoff. It is a normal thing," TASS cited Putin as saying.

"The most important thing is that the spaceport is working," he said, adding that a lot of work is yet to be done to prepare for the launch of a heavy rocket.