Soyuz-5 Flight Test

Soyuz-5, also known as Irtysh and Sunkar, is the new generation medium-class launch vehicle developed by Russia in cooperation with Kazakhstan to replace the Zenit-2 and Proton Medium launch vehicles, and to keep Baikonur cosmodrome operational while Vostochny cosmodrome takes on the role of the main Russian spaceport. It was previously known as project Sunkar/Fenix. The first stage of this launch vehicle will be used in the planned super-heavy Yenisey rocket, capable of lifting 100 tons of payload to low Earth orbit, and is considered the first stage in achieving this goal. Live firing tests of the fully integrated first stage of Soyuz-5 were completed in March 2025.

The first test flight lifted off from Site 45 at Baikonur on April 30, 2026 at 21:00 Moscow time (18:00 UTC). Both stages performed normally, and the mass simulator was placed on its planned suborbital trajectory before falling into a pre-closed area of the Pacific Ocean.

The launch date was Thursday, April 30, 2026 at 6:00 PM (UTC).