The launch went smoothly, but the launch trailer was wrecked, and a blast shield had to be devised. The first piloted launch was in April 1957, with test pilot Georgi M. Shiyanov at the controls. Shiyanov had trained for the launch on a special launch simulator catapult. He had endured 18 gees on one test when the technician arming the catapult made an error. Shiyanov suffered no real harm from the incident.
Sources make no mention of any consequential harm to the technician.
As with the American ZEL efforts, launches proved surprisingly easy. Landings proved a bit trickier. The tests were terminated when the Soviet government lost interest in the concept, for reasons somewhat similar to those that killed the American ZEL project. The requirement for a landing strip reduced the attractiveness of ZEL, while attempting to transport such a big and bulky system across the countryside was difficult, particularly when confronted by obstacles such as tunnels. The development of effective surface to air missiles proved to be a much more workable solution to the problem of forward air defense, and the Soviet ZEL went nowhere.