Success: maiden launch sends 3 satellites into orbit

The inaugural unmanned Soyuz-2.1A launch from the new Amur region spaceport went off without a hitch, 24 hours after a technical glitch halted the scheduled liftoff on Wednesday. President Vladimir Putin was among those watching the maiden launch at Vostochny, which in the coming decades is expected to host Russia's reach for the moon and Mars. 

Many locals also watched the historic debut flight from the country's new cosmodrome. 

'I want to congratulate you. There is something to be proud of,' Putin told cosmodrome workers and Roskosmos officials.

'The equipment overreached itself a little bit yesterday,' he said.

'We could have held the launch yesterday, but the equipment overdid its job and stopped the launch. This is a normal thing.'

Off we go! Vostochny maiden launch. Pictures: RosCosmos

The successful launch follows delays and allegations of corruption at the vast Vostochny construction site, close to the Chinese border, on the eastern edge of Siberia. 

The spaceport - the first civilian rocket launch site on Russian territory - will gradually reduce the country's dependence on Baikonur cosmodrome, leased from the government of Kazakhstan. 

Putin immediately demanded that space chiefs look to the future in establishing the new spaceport, some 5,600 kilometres east of Moscow. 

'The main thing is that this launch pad is now working, it has been prepared well by you and it is functioning,' he said. 'We are now facing a second stage here, to accommodate a heavy rocket. We have a lot of work in front of us, and it's daunting. 

'But, beyond all doubt, this is ... a very serious step forward in the development of Russia's space exploration.'

A day earlier he made clear his concern over a series of failures and problems which have blighted the space industry recently. 

People watch the first launch around the Far East of Russia. Pictures: Amur Pravda, Elena Rudenko 

After Wedensday's launch was aborted around two minutes before blastoff, he said the 'malfunction' could not be blamed on the new cosmodrome facilities. 

'I want to hear how the post-launch analysis is being carried out. Without any doubt, conclusions will have to be made,' he made clear. 'Of course, we remain in the lead despite all shortfalls, Russia is still leading in terms of the number of [successful] launches - which is good.

'But the number of failures we've seen lately is a bad thing. There should be an urgent professional response.

Three satellites - Lomonosov, Aist-2D, and SamSat-218 - were put into orbit on Thursday. 

Children were evacuated from a village on the flight path immediately after launch, it was confirmed today. They watched the flight from another site. 

Kremlin Chief of Staff Sergei Ivanov said Russia's Vostochny Cosmodrome could be used for moon missions in future.

'It is a bit too early to talk about the Lunar [programme], because that requires appropriate space technology, but in the future I think yes,' he said.