Vostochny Cosmodrome launches first rocket after 24-hour delay

Russia launched the first rocket from its new Vostochny Cosmodrome yesterday, 24 hours  after an initial attempt was aborted due to a last-minute technical failure. The state-run space agency Rososmos later confirmed that its payload of three scientific research satellites were now safely in orbit.
“We have something to be proud of,” said President Vladimir Putin  who made the 6,000 km trip from Moscow to witness the Soyuz 2.1a rocket blaze into the skies from the cosmodrome near Russia’s far eastern border with China. “This is undoubtedly a major step in the development of Russian cosmonautics,” he added.
Putin had  earlier made his displeasure at Wednesday’s last-minute delay all too clear by officially reprimanding  several top officials including Roscosmos CEO Igor Komarov and Dmitry Rogozin, the Deputy Prime Minister with responsibility for aerospace. “If these glitches are the result of sloppy work or a lack of proper oversight, I want to understand what happened … [and] make conclusions.”