The first successful ground fire test of a new RD-0124MS oxygen-kerosene rocket engine, which is designed for use in the second stage of the advanced Soyuz-5 rocket developed by the Progress Space Center (Samara, a part of Roscosmos), was conducted at the Voronezh Rocket Engine Center (part of the integrated rocket engine manufacturing structure, headed by NPO Energomash of Roscosmos).

Engine launch, work on the planned sequence modes, as well as shutdown went nominal. The engine condition after the test was normal, the test program was executed in full.

Igor Arbuzov, NPO Energomash Director General: "The successful test of the RD-0124 MS engine is the result of hard work and the merit of the entire Voronezh Rocket Engine Building Center team: engineers, technologists, production workers and testers. More firing tests are to follow, but we are confident that the RD-0124 MS engine has succeeded thanks to the competent and well-considered design and technological solutions of the Voronezh Center specialists”.

KBKhA Director Sergey Kovalev: "The RD-0124 MS engine incorporates our best engineering, technological and production solutions, which were developed in Voronezh over the past decades based on our rich experience in the production of oxygen-kerosene engines. We have confirmed the engine's operability in the main modes, and now we can move ahead dynamically with the program of final engine production and testing, in order to ensure further ground tests of our new engine as part of the stage and the transition to flight and design tests.

KBKhA Chief Designer Viktor Gorokhov: "The results of the conducted tests allowed us to make sure that the design and technological solutions were correct. We gained confidence that in the near future, the RD-0124MS engine will become a new world record holder in terms of thrust pulse (efficiency) among all oxygen-kerosene rocket engines, as required by the technical specifications. Today, these are also Voronezh RD-0124A/14D23 engines, which are used in the Angara and Soyuz-2 launch vehicle families. But we keep moving forward and are working to improve our own records.

The RD-0124MS rocket engine with a 60 ton vacuum thrust employs liquid oxygen/naphthyl fuel components and is designed to be used in the Soyuz-5 rocket second stage. The engine consists of two blocks located on a common frame. Each block consists of two chambers. The engine chambers are capable of tilting in two planes, operation is possible when one of the blocks is switched off, including when in a reduced thrust mode.