Russia successfully launched a new model of booster rocket, the Soyuz-2, on Monday following two postponements.

The rocket blasted off at 9:30 p.m. (1830 GMT) from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northwest Russia, the Interfax news agency reported.

The launch was originally scheduled for Oct. 29, but was put off twice due to software defects.

The new rocket, equipped with an updated digital control system, is a modernized version of the Soyuz rocket, whose technology dates back to the 1960s. It has more power but requires fewer people to oversee its launch and monitor its control system.

The rocket, which offers superior carrying capacity thanks to its advanced energy parameters, is designed for taking manned and unmanned spacecraft to low, medium, high, solar synchronized, geo-transitional and geo-stationary orbits.

Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said earlier that the new version of the Soyuz rocket will be used for military, civil and commercial space launches.