SAMARA, October 2. /TASS/. Russia’s advanced Soyuz-5 carrier rocket is set to blast off for the first time in 2026 instead of 2025 as was initially scheduled, First Deputy CEO of the Progress Space Rocket Center Ravil Akhmetov said on Wednesday.

"The Soyuz-5 is at the stage of its development. It is set to launch for the first time in 2026," he said.

The Soyuz-5 is an advanced Russian medium-class carrier rocket, which is being developed to deliver automatic spacecraft to near-Earth orbits. In April, the Russian government approved a draft agreement with Kazakhstan on the start of flight tests of the Baiterek space rocket center with the Soyuz-5 carrier rocket in 2025.