The Zenit flies

A further series of bench tests at the Energomash facilities in early 1985 finally paved the way for the first test flight of the Zenit rocket, which took place from the Baykonur cosmodrome on 13 April 1985 after a scrub the previous day. Although the second stage failed to place the mock-up payload into orbit, the RD-171 and the Zenit first stage performed brilliantly. Another launch with similar outcome was carried out on 21 June 1985. The first completely successful Zenit launch occurred on 22 October 1985, with the rocket placing into orbit a Tselina-2 electronic intelli­gence satellite, which would be its primary payload for many years to come. After another partial failure in December 1985 (not related to the first stage), the Zenit chalked up another five successful flights before Energiya’s maiden launch on 15 May 1987 (for the further history of the Zenit see Chapter 8).