Russia has launched the first rocket from its new Vostochny cosmodrome. The unmanned rocket is carrying three satellites. The new space port was built to reduce dependency on the Baikonur launch site in Kazakhstan. An unmanned Soyuz-2.1A rocket, carrying three satellites, roared into a clear blue sky from the launchpad at Vostochny cosmodrome in the remote Amur Region near China’s border.

The Vostochny spaceport, the first civilian rocket launch site on Russian territory, is intended to phase out Russia’s reliance on the Baikonur cosmodrome, which it leases from ex-Soviet Kazakhstan.

Until recently, Russia launched the bulk of its rockets from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which is located in what used to be the southwestern reaches of the Soviet Union. It was the first spaceport ever built, and was the origin point of some of the most famous space missions in history; both Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin blasted off from Baikonur.

But when the Soviet Union collapsed, the million square miles around Baikonur became the independent Republic of Kazakhstan. In order to keep its space program alive, Russia agreed to lease the Baikonur Cosmodrome from Kazakhstan for $115 million per year.