Russian heavy rocket launch vehicle blasts off launchpad for test flight

This is the moment a new Russian heavy launch vehicle rocket - the first to be developed after the collapse of the Soviet Union 30 years ago - blasts off a launchpad for a test flight.

It is the third test flight for the new Angara-A5 heavy-class launch vehicle, which took off from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, located in the town of Mirny, in the Arkhangelsk Oblast region, some 800 kilometres (500 miles) north of Moscow. The launch took place at 10 p.m. local time on December 27.