Russia has launched a powerful telescope into space that maps X-rays across the entire sky in unprecedented detail after days of launch delays.

The Spektr-RG took off on a Proton-M rocket from the cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on Saturday.

Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, say the telescope will provide fresh insights on the accelerating behaviour of cosmic expansion.

This will allow researchers to trace the large-scale structure of the universe.

The Spektr-RG is headed towards the L2 Lagrange point, a unique position in the solar system where objects can maintain their position relative to the sun and the planets that orbit it.

Race to Space: US and Soviet Union's Cold War rivalry Show all 8 1 /8 Race to Space: US and Soviet Union's Cold War rivalry Race to Space: US and Soviet Union's Cold War rivalry US astronaut Alan B Shepard Jr sitting in his Freedom 7 Mercury capsule, ready for launch on 5 May 1961. Just 23 days earlier, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had become the first man in space. After several delays and more than four hours in the capsule, Shepard was ready to go, and he famously urged mission controllers to “fix your little problem and light this candle”. Pictures by Nasa/EPA Race to Space: US and Soviet Union's Cold War rivalry Wernher von Braun (centre) explains the Saturn rocket system to President John F Kennedy at Launch Complex 37 while the president tours the Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex, on 16 November 1963 Nasa/EPA Race to Space: US and Soviet Union's Cold War rivalry A back-up copy of the first Russian Sputnik (satellite, right), and a small replica of the second Russian satellite displayed in a small museum in the cosmonaut training centre in Star City outside Moscow. The second satellite was launched just a month later on 3 November 1957 with dog Laika on board. EPA Race to Space: US and Soviet Union's Cold War rivalry Jet propulsion laboratory director William Pickering (left), Dr James Van Allen (centre), and Dr Wernher von Braun (right) hold up a model of the first US satellite Explorer 1, which successfully launched on 31 January 1958 Nasa/EPA Race to Space: US and Soviet Union's Cold War rivalry President Kennedy speaks to the nation at the joint session of congress, in Washington, DC, on 25 May 1961, where he said: “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth.” Nasa/EPA Race to Space: US and Soviet Union's Cold War rivalry A visitor passes in front of a picture of Yuri Gagarin, the first cosmonaut of the USSR, inside the Vostok 1 command capsule on display at the exhibition “The way of Gagarin – achievement of Russian manned cosmonautics” in Moscow. On 12 April 1961, Gagarin performed a space flight aboard the Vostok-1 spacecraft, orbiting Earth in 108 minutes and landing safely near Smelovka village in the Saratov region's Ternovsky district. EPA Race to Space: US and Soviet Union's Cold War rivalry A model of the world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, hangs in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC EPA Race to Space: US and Soviet Union's Cold War rivalry Full length image of US astronaut Alan B Shepard Jr Nasa/EPA

Located 1.5m km from Earth, L2 is particularly ideal for telescopes such as Spektr-RG. If all goes well, it will arrive at its designated position in three months.

The Spektr-RG, developed with Germany, replaces the Spektr-R, known as the "Russian Hubble", which Russia said it lost control of in January.

If Spektr-RG reaches L2 successfully, it will be the first Russian spacecraft to operate beyond Earth's orbit since the Soviet era.