MOSCOW, April 11 (Reuters) – Russia on Thursday test-launched its Angara-A5 space rocket for the first time from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Far East, successfully putting a test load in low orbit as part of an effort to develop a new post-Soviet launch vehicle.

The test launch of the Angara-A5, Russia’s first post-Soviet space rocket, was aimed at underscoring Moscow’s ambition to be a major space power and the growing importance of Vostochny, situated in the forests of the Amur region of Russia’s Far East.