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The Soyuz launcher was introduced in 1966, deriving from the Vostok launcher, which in turn was based on the 8K74 or R-7a intercontinental ballistic missile. It was initially a three-stage rocket with a Block I upper stage. The first four test launches were all failures, but eventually it worked. [1]
Soyuz (Russian: Союз, IPA:, lit. 'Union') is a series of spacecraft which has been in service since the 1960s, having made more than 140 flights. It was designed for the Soviet space program by the Korolev Design Bureau (now Energia).
As well as being used in the Soyuz programme as the launcher for the crewed Soyuz spacecraft, Soyuz launch vehicles are now also used to launch robotic Progress supply spacecraft to the International Space Station and commercial launches marketed and operated by TsSKB-Progress and the Starsem company.
The Soyuz-2.1 launch spacecraft, which lifted off from Russia's Vostochny Cosmodrome, carried two Ionosfera-M satellites, which will become part of the space system for monitoring the Earth's ...
The Soyuz‑2.1b, with a 15 percent more powerful third stage, followed on 27 December 2006. In 2011, the Soyuz‑ST was introduced, a derivative version with extensive modifications to launch from the Guiana Space Centre , the European Space Agency's spaceport in French Guiana.
It became the world's most prolific launcher, flying hundreds of missions over 43 years until its retirement in 2017. Other direct variants were Soyuz-L for low Earth orbit tests of the LK lunar lander (three flights) and Soyuz-M built for a quickly abandoned military spacecraft and used for reconnaissance satellites instead (eight flights).
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying a Russian, a Belarusian and an American en route to the International Space Station (ISS) was launched on Saturday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan ...
Soyuz-U held the world record of highest launch rate in a year in 1979 with 47 flights until this was beaten by SpaceX's Falcon 9 in 2022. [10] [11] Over its operational lifetime, the Soyuz-U variant flew a total of 786 missions, another world record. Soyuz-U has also been one of the most reliable launchers, with a success rate of 97.3%.