Kazakhstan has taken a major leap into the space arena, officially joining the ranks of spacefaring nations following a landmark rocket launch.

Roscosmos chief Dmitry Bakanov said that the successful launch of the Soyuz-5 medium-class rocket marks Kazakhstan’s entry into the “club of space powers.” The launch took place at the iconic Baikonur Cosmodrome on April 30 as part of the joint Russian-Kazakh Baiterek Project, The Caspian Post reports via Russian media.

“Our colleagues from Kazakhstan have joined the club of space nations - we congratulate them,” Bakanov said, adding that both sides plan to further develop the project and enhance the rocket’s capabilities to carry more payloads into orbit.

The Soyuz-5 is a two-stage rocket standing about 64 meters tall. Its first stage is powered by the RD-171MV engine-described by Roscosmos as the world’s most powerful liquid-fueled rocket engine-while the second stage uses the RD-0124MS engine. Officials confirmed that all systems performed normally during the launch.

With a payload capacity of up to 17 tons, the new rocket is expected to play a key role in expanding Kazakhstan’s presence in the global space industry and boosting future missions from Baikonur.