MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/. The Russian private space firm Success Rockets conducted the first launch of its NEBO 25 rocket with a TASS logo on its board, the company’s press office reported on Friday.

"The NEBO 25 suborbital rocket was launched in the Astrakhan Region on December 23. The launch is the first for the NEBO 25 suborbital rocket and the second for the company in 2021 (a suborbital rocket prototype was launched in April 2021)," the press office said.

"This made Success Rockets Russia’s first private company that carried out more than one launch a year. The TASS news agency whose logo was also posted on the rocket’s board acts as a strategic information partner of this and subsequent launches by Success Rockets," it specified.

The NEBO 25 is a one-stage solid-propellant rocket 3.5 meters long and weighing 65,000 grams. The company had been developing the rocket since 2020. The rocket carries femto-satellites (space vehicles weighing under 100 grams). The rocket transmitted telemetric data, gathered and recorded all necessary parameters on its board throughout the flight, the press office said.

As Success Rockets specified, the commission made a decision to adjust the angle and flight path of the rocket launch compared to the original plan due to the strong wind of over 50 m/s at an altitude of over 9 km. The rocket flew over 18 km under the designated scheme, climbing to an apogee altitude of seven km, following which its emergency rescue system switched on. The rocket fired its engine for 8.2 seconds. The rocket accelerated to 512 m/s, which exceeds the speed of sound. Compared to the previous launch of its prototype, the rocket’s flight range increased by almost 10 times, the press office said.

The launch was carried out with the support of the Arcturus Space Technology Center of the Russian Science and Higher Education Ministry, the press office specified.

"In actual fact, a new competence for privately-created superlight rocket launches has been set up. Moreover, the company has complied with all the deadlines announced in the media for the item’s launch expectations in 2021. Today we can congratulate SR and all the partners on reaching a new frontier," Adviser to the Rostov Region Governor and CEO of New Cosmos Corporation Anton Alekseyev was quoted by the corporation as saying.

Success Rockets told TASS that the rocket had been customized by Russian NFT-artist Nikita Replyansky (R66) under the project. The rocket carried a payload of a collectible toy created by the artist in the space style specially for the NEBO 25 flight.

Success Rockets founder Oleg Mansurov earlier told TASS that the company was planning to launch a suborbital rocket to an altitude of over 100 km in 2022 and was set for a full-fledged orbital launch in 2024.