The first launch, on April 21, 1999, successfully placed UoSAT-12, a 350 kg demonstration mini-satellite, into a 650 km circular Low Earth orbit.

In February 2015, following a year of strained relations including the Euromaidan and the Russo-Ukrainian war, Russia announced that it would sever its "joint program with Ukraine to launch Dnepr rockets and [was] no longer interested in buying Ukrainian Zenit boosters, deepening problems for [Ukraine's] space program and its struggling Yuzhmash factory.

[8][9][10][1] Business magnate Elon Musk tried to purchase refurbished Dnepr rockets for a low price from Russia but returned empty-handed after failing to find any that were affordable.

[13] The next day a Dnepr re-took the record, placing 32 satellites and an experiment package bolted to the upper stage into low Earth orbit.

The committee investigating the failed launch on July 26, 2006, concluded that the failure was caused by a malfunctioning of the pumping hydraulic drive of combustion chamber #4.

The control malfunctioning brought about the disturbances, which led to the roll instability, excessive dispersions of the yaw and pitch angles.