Russia's Soyuz 5 rocket launches on its first-ever mission, a suborbital test flight from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on April 30, 2026. The flight was a success, according to Russian space officials. (Image credit: Roscosmos)

Russia's new Soyuz 5 rocket has taken to the skies at long last.

The Soyuz 5 lifted off for the first time ever on Thursday (April 30), rising off a pad at the Russia-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2:00 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT; 11:00 p.m. local time in Baikonur).

"The first test launch of the new Soyuz 5 rocket was a success!" officials with Russia's federal space agency, known as Roscosmos , said via the Telegram app on Thursday.

"The first and second stages of Soyuz 5 performed as planned, and a mockup was launched onto the calculated suborbital trajectory, followed by a reentry into an area in the Pacific Ocean previously closed to shipping and aviation," they added in another Telegram post .

Thursday's launch was a long time coming for the Soyuz 5, which has been in…