Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued reprimands to Roscosmos head Igor Komarov and Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the country's space industry, for the delay in launching the first rocket from the newly-built Vostochny Cosmodrome, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday.
Earlier on Thursday, Russia successfully conducted the first launch from the newly-built Vostochny space center, putting three satellites aboard a Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket into orbit. The launch was originally slated for Wednesday.
According to Roscosmos, the postponement was not connected to spaceport infrastructure and was not the result of human factors.
"Yes," Peskov told RIA Novosti when asked if Komarov and Rogozin had been reprimanded by the president.
Russian President Vladimir Putin watched the launch with Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the space industry, head of the Roscosmos state corporation Igor Komarov, the commander of the Space Forces Alexander Golovko.
Putin Compares First Launch From Vostochny CosmodromeWith Pudding
"The proof of the pudding is in the eating!" President Vladimir Putin said after a Soyuz spaceship with three Russian satellites on board lifted off from the newly-built Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Far East on Thursday.
Putin arrived at Vostochny for its first launch, scheduled to take place at 5:01am Moscow time (02:01GMT) on Wednesday. However, automatic systems canceled the launch of the Soyuz-2.1a space rocket less than two minutes before liftoff.
The Soyuz rocket eventually lifted off at 5.01 am on Thursday carrying the Mikhailo Lomonosov research satellite and two small secondary payloads.
Speaking after the launch, Putin, said it could have been carried out on Wednesday, if it was not for the technology "trying too hard."
"They say that the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and to prove that a cosmodrome is ready for work you need to have a first launch. You made it and I congratulate you," the President said.
"In 2007 we said we were going to have a complex like this and here it is. This is the first stage of a major effort and you have carried it out just fine," Putin added.
The Soyuz rocket orbited Russia's Aist-2D, Mikhailo Lomonosov and SamSat-218 research satellites.
Moscow University rector Viktor Sadovnichy said that the Mikhailo Lomonosov probe would contribute to the scientific study of particles reaching the earth from distant galaxies, powerful flares happening 500 kilometers above the surface of the earth, and keep an eye on the threats from asteroids and so-called "space junk" orbiting our planet.
