The Persei booster with a full-size payload mockup has separated from the third stage of the Angara-A5 heavy carrier rocket that was launched from the Plesetsk spaceport in Russia’s northwestern Arkhangelsk region, the Russian defense ministry said on Monday. This reported by TASS.

"The orbital block consisting of the Persei booster and the full-size payload mockup separated from the third stage of the Angara-A5 carrier rocket 12 minutes after the launch," it said.

The orbital bloc will be put in orbit by the Persei booster under the routine nine-hour scheme, when the booster’s engine is switched on four times.

The Angara-A5 heavy carrier rocket was launched by the Russian space forces from the Plesetsk spaceport at 22:00 Moscow time on Monday.

The Persei booster, a modernized version of a unit originally meant for the Proton-M carrier rocket, was developed by RSC Energia. Chief of Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin said earlier that the Persei booster would be launched for the first time on the Angara-A5 heavy carrier rocket in 2021.