Indeed. I&#x27;m actually impressed by the technical achievement - putting something into a (nearly) circular polar orbit is no mean feat.<p>As for the &quot;it&#x27;s an ICBM test!&quot; crowd - bollocks. That&#x27;s like saying the Boeing 747 was a test to see if manned flight is possible - total overengineering.<p>Also, for context, what exactly do folks think soyuz goes into space on? A magical peace rocket? No. It goes up on an R-7, which <i>is</i> an ICBM - the very first developed, in fact. That nasty ICBM technology has kept the ISS running.<p>The Mercury programme redstone rockets that put Americans in space - also ballistic missiles that had had warheads replaced with crew capsules.<p>Should America and Russia have been condemned by the world? By the standards being applied here, yes.<p>So, shake your fist all you like, but regardless of their politics this is a technical coup, and I congratulate them on a successful launch.