With a new Soyuz rocket, Russia seeks to break its Ukrainian dependency

In a recent statement to the Russian state news agency TASS, Dmitry Bakanov, head of Roscosmos, announced that the Soyuz-5 rocket is slated for its inaugural flight by the end of December. "Yes, we are planning for December," Bakanov confirmed, indicating that preparations are well underway. The upcoming launch will kick off a series of demonstration flights, with full operational capabilities anticipated to be achieved by 2028. The Soyuz-5 is expected to lift off from the Baikonur spaceport located in Kazakhstan. While the Soyuz-5 may not be groundbreaking in terms of innovation, as it has been in development for nearly ten years and is fully expendable, it signifies a crucial step for Russia in reducing its reliance on Ukrainian technology for space launches. Named after the Irtysh River that flows through both Russia and Kazakhstan, this rocket repurposes older technologies to forge a more self-sufficient path in the aerospace sector. Key to this initiative is the transition of manufacturing rocket components that were previously produced in Ukraine to facilities within Russia. The Soyuz-5 serves as a modified version of the Zenit-2 rocket, which made its debut in the 1980s and was utilized for numerous missions until the 2010s. The Zenit-2 was a product of the Soviet era, designed by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau in Dnipro, Ukraine. Although the original first and second stages were built in Ukraine, the powerful RD-171 engine that propels the rocket was developed by NPO Energomash in Russia, highlighting the complex interdependencies in the region's aerospace industry.