The Soyuz-FG

launch vehicle A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pad, launch pads, supported by a missile launch contro ...

was an improved version of the

Soyuz-U The Soyuz-U launch vehicle was an improved version of the original Soyuz rocket. Soyuz-U was part of the R-7 family of rockets based on the R-7 Semyorka missile. Members of this rocket family were designed by the TsSKB design bureau and cons ...

from the

R-7 family The R-7 family of rockets (russian: Р-7) is a series of rockets, derived from the Soviet R-7 Semyorka, the world's first ICBM. More R-7 rockets have been launched than any other family of large rockets. When Soviet nuclear warheads became li ...

of rockets, designed and constructed by

TsSKB-Progress The Progress Rocket Space Centre (russian: Ракетно-космический центр «Прогресс»), formerly known as TsSKB-Progress (russian: ЦСКБ-Прогресс), is a Russian joint-stock company under the jurisdiction ...

Samara, Russia Samara ( rus, Сама́ра, p=sɐˈmarə), known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev (; ), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara rivers, with a population of ...

Guidance, navigation, and control Guidance, navigation and control (abbreviated GNC, GN&C, or G&C and within the context of NASA operations, often pronounced 'Gintsee' or (IPA) ʤɪnsiː) is a branch of engineering dealing with the design of systems to control the movement o ...

system was developed and manufactured by "Polisvit" Special Design Bureau (

Kharkov, Ukraine Kharkiv ( uk, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine.

). Soyuz-FG made its maiden flight on 20 May 2001, carrying a

Progress Progress is the movement towards a refined, improved, or otherwise desired state. In the context of progressivism, it refers to the proposition that advancements in technology, science, and social organization have resulted, and by extension wi ...

cargo spacecraft to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...

(ISS). It was retired after the 25 September 2019 launch of

Soyuz MS-15 Soyuz MS-15 was a Soyuz spaceflight launched on 25 September 2019, transporting two members of the Expedition 61 crew and a short duration visiting crew member to the International Space Station. Soyuz MS-15 was the 143rd flight of a Soyuz spac ...

to the ISS; the analog control system significantly limited its capabilities and prompted its replacement by

Soyuz-2 Soyuz-2 (GRAU index 14A14) is a modernized version of the Soviet Soyuz rocket. In its basic form, it is a three-stage launch vehicle for placing payloads into low Earth orbit. Compared to the previous versions of the Soyuz, the first-stage bo ...

. From 30 October 2002 to 25 September 2019, the Soyuz-FG was the only vehicle used by the

Russian Federal Space Agency The State Space Corporation "Roscosmos" (russian: Государственная корпорация по космической деятельности «Роскосмос»), commonly known simply as Roscosmos (russian: Роскосмос) ...

to launch Soyuz-TMA and

Soyuz-MS The Soyuz MS (; GRAU: 11F732A48) is a revision of the Russian spacecraft series Soyuz first launched in 2016. It is an evolution of the Soyuz TMA-M spacecraft, with modernization mostly concentrated on the communications and navigation subsyst ...

crewed spacecraft to the ISS. For uncrewed flights, Soyuz-FG optionally flew with a

Fregat Fregat (russian: Фрегат, ''frigate'') is an upper stage developed by NPO Lavochkin in the 1990s, which is used in some Soyuz and Zenit launch vehicles, but is universal and can be used as a part of a medium and heavy class launch vehicles ...

upper stage A multistage rocket or step rocket is a launch vehicle that uses two or more rocket ''stages'', each of which contains its own engines and propellant. A ''tandem'' or ''serial'' stage is mounted on top of another stage; a ''parallel'' stage is ...

, developed and produced by

Lavochkin NPO Lavochkin (russian: НПО Лавочкина, OKB-301, also called Lavochkin Research and Production Association or shortly Lavochkin Association, LA) is a Russian aerospace company. It is a major player in the Russian space program, being th ...

Association in

Khimki Khimki ( rus, Химки, p=ˈxʲimkʲɪ) is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, 18.25 kilometres northwest of central Moscow, and immediately beyond the Moscow city boundary. History Origins and formation Khimki was initially a railway station tha ...

. The

maiden flight The maiden flight, also known as first flight, of an aircraft is the first occasion on which it leaves the ground under its own power. The same term is also used for the first launch of rockets. The maiden flight of a new aircraft type is alwa ...

of this configuration occurred on 2 June 2003, the first of ten such launches. Launches of the Soyuz-FG/Fregat configuration were marketed by a European-Russian company called

Starsem Starsem is a French-Russian company that was created in 1996 to commercialise the Soyuz launcher internationally. Starsem is headquartered in Évry, France (near Paris) and has the following shareholders: * ArianeGroup (35%) * Arianespace (1 ...

. Soyuz-FG was launched from the

Baikonur Cosmodrome The Baikonur Cosmodrome ( kk, Байқоңыр ғарыш айлағы, translit=Baiqoñyr ğaryş ailağy, ; russian: Космодром Байконур, translit=Kosmodrom Baykonur, ) is a spaceport in an area of southern Kazakhstan leased to R ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

, from

Gagarin's Start Gagarin's Start (russian: Гагаринский старт, ''Gagarinskiy start''), also known as Baikonur Site 1 or Site 1/5 is a launch site at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan that was used for the Soviet space program and is now mana ...

(pad LC-1/5) for crewed missions, and from LC-31/6 for satellite launches with the Fregat variant. The Soyuz-FG performed 64 successful launches until its first failure on 11 October 2018 with the

Soyuz MS-10 Soyuz MS-10 was a crewed Soyuz MS spaceflight that aborted shortly after launch on 11 October 2018 due to a failure of the Soyuz-FG launch vehicle boosters. MS-10 was the 139th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft. It was intended to transport two mem ...

mission. A video recording of the spaceflight released several weeks later suggested a faulty sensor, resulted in the destruction of the rocket. The crew, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin, escaped safely.

Launch history

References

* *

External links

Russian Federal Space Agency about Soyuz-FG

LV's manufacturer TsSKB-Progress about Soyuz-FG
{{R-7 rockets Soyuz program R-7 (rocket family) Space launch vehicles of Russia Vehicles introduced in 2001

Launch history

See also

References

External links