Russia Fails To Launch New Soyuz-5 Launch Vehicle

It was supposed to be a competitor to Elon Musk's SpaceX.

The first test launch of the Soyuz-5 launch vehicle under development from the Baikonur site as part of the joint Russian-Kazakh space program Baiterek, which was to take place on Friday, has been postponed due to the need to complete preparations for the launch. "The project partners have decided to adjust the timing of the first launch and conduct additional checks of both onboard systems and ground equipment," the Roscosmos press service said. It specified that experts should make sure of "stable" functioning of systems in normal and abnormal modes, readiness of the vehicle for flight tests and safety of the first launch of the rocket. The Baiterek program, Roscosmos assured, is at the final stage, writes The Moscow Times.

The project was launched in 2004, and the first launches of the Soyuz-5 were initially planned for 2022, but after the outbreak of war in Ukraine and the strengthening of anti-Russian sanctions, the deadline was shifted several times. In the summer of 2025, Roscosmos head Dmitri Bakanov promised that the Soyuz-5 would be launched from the Baiterek launch complex by the end of 2025. The Russian-Kazakhstani program is positioned as a competitor to the projects of the U.S. company SpaceX, owned by billionaire Ilon Musk, notes Bloomberg. "Soyuz-5, which was announced as Russia's answer to Musk's rockets, particularly Falcon 9, began to be developed in 2017.

As later explained by Deputy Prime Minister - head of the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development of Kazakhstan Zhaslan Madiev, the first launch of Soyuz 5 from Baiterek has been postponed to the first quarter of 2026.

"Now there are active preparations, the launch vehicle is already on the territory of Kazakhstan and we expect that in the first quarter of next year there will be the first test launch. This is our own launch pad from which launches of launch vehicles will be carried out," Interfax quoted him as saying. Madiev added that Kazakhstan continues to actively prepare the site for space launches.

November 27, a part of the launch complex collapsed at Baikonur during the launch of the Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft to the ISS. The accident damaged the only launch pad for Russian manned missions - the maintenance cabin collapsed. Roscosmos then promised to restore the pad "in the near future."

In mid-December, Roscosmos said it had postponed the launch of the Proton-M rocket, which was to send the Electro-L hydrometeorological satellite into orbit from Baikonur. "During scheduled pre-launch checks of all systems, a localized mismatch in the upper stage was diagnosed," the state corporation explained. The launch was postponed "to eliminate the deficiencies."

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