SAROV /Nizhny Novgorod Region/, August 22. /TASS/. Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos adheres to its plans to conduct the first test-launch of an advanced Soyuz-5 carrier rocket in December, Roscosmos Head Dmitry Bakanov said on Friday.

"Yes, we have plans for December, everything remains in force," the Roscosmos chief said, responding to a question from TASS about the Russian space agency’s plans for the first test-launch.

The Soyuz-5 is an advanced Russian medium-class carrier rocket with increased lifting capacity, which is being developed under the Russian-Kazakh Baiterek project to deliver automatic spacecraft to near-Earth orbits. The first launch is scheduled for the end of December 2025. The new rocket is set to become fully operational in 2028.