The Demonstrator-2P machine, made in Russia by contract with the European Space Agency, was launched at 1:30 am (2130 GMT) off a nuclear-powered submarine in the northern Barents Sea and safely landed on Kamchatka half an hour later, the ministry said.

"It is expected that in the future it will bring cargo weighing up to several tonnes back from orbit," the machine's constructors said.

A number of deflated Demonstrators would be shipped to the International Space Station and then be used to drift down to Earth with attached cargo, constructors said, adding that the nitrogen-inflated apparatus would be protected from the descent's high temperatures by a special flexible heat shielding.

This is the fourth test of the Demonstrator's launch, with the previous attempts failing due to various problems in the launch's stages or landing.

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