The Soyuz programme ( , ; russian: link=no, Союз , meaning "Union") is a

human spaceflight Human spaceflight (also referred to as manned spaceflight or crewed spaceflight) is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be ...

programme initiated by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

in the early 1960s. The Soyuz spacecraft was originally part of a

Moon landing A Moon landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. This includes both crewed and robotic missions. The first human-made object to touch the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2, on 13 September 1959. The United S ...

project intended to put a Soviet

cosmonaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

. It was the third Soviet

programme after the

Vostok Vostok refers to east in Russian but may also refer to: Spaceflight * Vostok programme, Soviet human spaceflight project * Vostok (spacecraft), a type of spacecraft built by the Soviet Union * Vostok (rocket family), family of rockets derived from ...

(1961–1963) and Voskhod (1964–1965) programmes. The programme consists of the Soyuz capsule and the

Soyuz rocket The Soyuz (russian: Союз, meaning "union", GRAU index 11A511) was a Soviet expendable carrier rocket designed in the 1960s by OKB-1 and manufactured by State Aviation Plant No. 1 in Kuybyshev, Soviet Union. It was commissioned to launch ...

and is now the responsibility of the

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

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

. After the retirement of the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...

in 2011, Soyuz was the only way for humans to get 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) until 30 May 2020, when

Crew Dragon Dragon 2 is a class of partially reusable spacecraft developed and manufactured by American aerospace manufacturer SpaceX, primarily for flights to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX has also launched private missions such as Ins ...

flew to the ISS for the first time with astronauts.

Soyuz rocket

The launch vehicles used in the Soyuz expendable launch system are manufactured at the

Progress State Research and Production Rocket Space Center 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 ...

(TsSKB-Progress) in Samara, Russia. 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

and commercial launches marketed and operated by TsSKB-Progress and the

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 ...

company. Currently Soyuz vehicles are launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and the

Plesetsk Cosmodrome Plesetsk Cosmodrome ( rus, Космодром «Плесецк», r=Kosmodrom "Plesetsk", p=kəsmɐˈdrom plʲɪˈsʲet͡sk) is a Russian spaceport located in Mirny, Arkhangelsk Oblast, about 800 km north of Moscow and approximately 200 ...

in northwest Russia and, since 2011, Soyuz launch vehicles are also being launched from the

Guiana Space Centre The Guiana Space Centre (french: links=no, Centre spatial guyanais; CSG), also called Europe's Spaceport, is a European spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, a region of France in South America. Kourou is located approximatel ...

in French Guiana. The Spaceport's new Soyuz launch site has been handling Soyuz launches since 21 October 2011, the date of the first launch. As of December 2019, 19 Guiana Soyuz launches had been made from French Guiana Space Centre, all successful.

Soyuz spacecraft

The basic

Soyuz spacecraft Soyuz () 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). The Soyuz succeeded the Voskhod spacecraf ...

design was the basis for many projects, many of which were never developed. Its earliest form was intended to travel to the Moon without employing a huge booster like the

Saturn V Saturn V is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon. The rocket was human-rated, with three stages, and powered with liquid fuel. It was flown from 196 ...

or the Soviet

N-1 N1, N.I, N-1, or N01 may refer to: Information technology * Nokia N1, an Android tablet * Nexus One, an Android phone made by HTC * Nylas N1, a desktop email client * Oppo N1, an Android phone * N1, a Sun Microsystems software brand now mostly ...

by repeatedly docking with upper stages that had been put in orbit using the same rocket as the Soyuz. This and the initial civilian designs were done under the Soviet Chief Designer

Sergei Pavlovich Korolev Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (russian: Сергей Павлович Королёв, Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov, sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪtɕ kərɐˈlʲɵf, Ru-Sergei Pavlovich Korolev.ogg; ukr, Сергій Павлович Корольов, ...

, who did not live to see the craft take flight. Several military derivatives took precedence in the Soviet design process, though they never came to pass. A Soyuz spacecraft consists of three parts (from front to back): *a spheroid

orbital module The orbital module is a compartment of some space capsules used only in orbit. It is separated from the crewed reentry capsule before reentry. The orbital module provides 'habitat' space to use in orbit, while the reentry capsule tends to be focu ...

*a small aerodynamic

reentry module A reentry capsule is the portion of a space capsule which returns to Earth following a spaceflight. The shape is determined partly by aerodynamics; a capsule is aerodynamically stable falling blunt end first, which allows only the blunt end to re ...

*a cylindrical

service module A service module (also known as an equipment module or instrument compartment) is a component of a crewed space capsule containing a variety of support systems used for spacecraft operations. Usually located in the uninhabited area of the spacec ...

with solar panels attached There have been many variants of the Soyuz spacecraft, including: * Sever early manned spacecraft proposal to replace Vostok (1959) * L1-1960 manned circumlunar spacecraft proposal (1960); evolved into the Soyuz-A design ** L4-1960 manned lunar orbiter proposal (1960) * L1-1962 manned lunar flyby spacecraft proposal (1962); early design led to Soyuz ** OS-1962 space station proposal (1962) * Soyuz-A 7K-9K-11K circumlunar complex proposal (1963) **

Soyuz 7K Sergei Korolev initially promoted the Soyuz A-B-V circumlunar complex (''7K-9K-11K'') concept (also known as L1) in which a two-man craft Soyuz 7K would rendezvous with other components (9K and 11K) in Earth orbit to assemble a lunar excursion vehi ...

crewed spacecraft concept ** Soyuz 9K proposed booster **

Soyuz 11K Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз (Russian and Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (''profsoyuz'') or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Сою́з Сове́тских Социалис ...

proposed fuel tanker * L3-1963 manned lunar lander proposal (1963) * L4-1963 manned lunar orbiter proposal; modified 7K (1963) *

Soyuz 7K-OK Soyuz 7K-OK was the first generation of Soyuz spacecraft and was flown between 1967 and 1971. The 7K-OK was used for the first ferry flights to the Salyut space station program, beginning a long history of space station service that continu ...

(1967–1970) ** Soyuz 7K-L1 Zond (1967–1970) **

Soyuz 7K-L3 The Soyuz 7K-LOK, or simply LOK (russian: Лунный Орбитальный Корабль, translit=Lunniy Orbitalny Korabl meaning "Lunar Orbital Craft") was a Soviet crewed spacecraft designed to launch men from Earth to orbit the Moon, deve ...

LOK (1971–1972) **

Soyuz 7K-OKS Soyuz 7K-OKS (also known as Soyuz 7KT-OK) is a version of the Soyuz spacecraft and was the first spacecraft designed for space station flights. Its only crewed flights were conducted in 1971, with Soyuz 10 and Soyuz 11. Design The two craf ...

(1971); also known as 7KT-OK *

Soyuz 7K-T The second generation of the Soyuz spacecraft, the ''Soyuz 7K-T'', comprised Soyuz 12 through Soyuz 40 (1973-1981). In the wake of the Soyuz 11 tragedy, the spacecraft was redesigned to accommodate two cosmonauts who would wear pressure suit ...

or "ferry" (1973–1981) **

Soyuz 7K-T/A9 The second generation of the Soyuz spacecraft, the ''Soyuz 7K-T'', comprised Soyuz 12 through Soyuz 40 (1973-1981). In the wake of the Soyuz 11 tragedy, the spacecraft was redesigned to accommodate two cosmonauts who would wear pressure suit ...

(1974–1978) *

Soyuz 7K-TM The 1975 Apollo–Soyuz Test Project version of the Soyuz spacecraft (Soyuz 7K-TM) served as a technological bridge to the third generation Soyuz-T (T - транспортный, ''Transportnyi'' meaning transport) spacecraft (1976–1986). T ...

(1974–1976) ** 7K-MF6 (1976) *

Soyuz-T The Soyuz-T (russian: Союз-T, ''Union-T'') spacecraft was the third generation Soyuz spacecraft, in service for seven years from 1979 to 1986. The ''T'' stood for transport (, ). The revised spacecraft incorporated lessons learned from the ...

(1976–1986) * Zarya planned 'Super Soyuz' replacement for Soyuz and Progress (1985) ** Alpha Lifeboat rescue spacecraft based on Zarya (1995); cancelled in favor of a modified Soyuz TM ** Big Soyuz enlarged version of Soyuz reentry vehicle (2008) *

Soyuz-TM The Soyuz-TM were fourth generation (1986–2002) Soyuz spacecraft used for ferry flights to the Mir and International Space Station, ISS space stations. The Soyuz spacecraft consisted of three parts, the Orbital Module, the Descent Module and th ...

(1986–2003) * Soyuz TMA (2003–2012) * Soyuz-ACTS (2006) *

Soyuz TMA-M Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз (Russian and Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (''profsoyuz'') or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Сою́з Сове́тских Социалис ...

(2010–2016) *

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 subsyste ...

(since 2016) *

Military Soyuz The Soviet Union planned several military Soyuz spacecraft models. These versions were named ''Soyuz P'', ''Soyuz PPK'', ''Soyuz R'', ''Soyuz 7K-VI'', and ''Soyuz OIS (Orbital Research Station)''. However, none ever flew in space. Soyuz P, ...

(P, PPK, R, 7K-VI Zvezda, and OIS) **

Soyuz P Soyuz P (russian: Союз Перехватчик meaning Union Interceptor) was a proposed Soviet crewed combat spacecraft and satellite interceptor. The Soyuz P was proposed in December 1962 along with other Soyuz variants to match the United St ...

crewed satellite interceptor proposal (1962) ** Soyuz R command-reconnaissance spacecraft proposal (1962) *** Soyuz 7K-TK transport spacecraft proposal for delivering cosmonauts to Soyuz R military stations (1966) **

Soyuz PPK Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз (Russian and Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (''profsoyuz'') or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Сою́з Сове́тских Социалис ...

revised version of Soyuz P (1964) **

Soyuz 7K-VI Zvezda The Soviet Union planned several military Soyuz spacecraft models. These versions were named ''Soyuz P'', ''Soyuz PPK'', ''Soyuz R'', ''Soyuz 7K-VI'', and ''Soyuz OIS (Orbital Research Station)''. However, none ever flew in space. Soyuz P, R ...

space station proposal (1964) ** Soyuz-VI manned combat spacecraft proposal; cancelled in 1965 ** Soyuz OIS (1967) *** Soyuz OB-VI space station proposal (1967) *** Soyuz 7K-S military transport proposal (1974) ***

Soyuz 7K-ST The Soyuz-T (russian: Союз-T, ''Union-T'') spacecraft was the third generation Soyuz spacecraft, in service for seven years from 1979 to 1986. The ''T'' stood for transport (, ). The revised spacecraft incorporated lessons learned from the ...

concept for Soyuz T and TM (1974)

Derivatives

The Zond spacecraft was designed to take a crew around the Moon, but never achieved the required degree of safety or political need.

Zond 5 Zond 5 (russian: Зонд 5, lit=Probe 5) was a spacecraft of the Soviet Zond program. In September 1968 it became the first spaceship to travel to and circle the Moon, the first Moon mission to include animals, and the first to return safely to ...

did circle the Moon in September 1968, with two tortoises and other life forms, and returned safely to Earth although in an

atmospheric entry Atmospheric entry is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. There are two main types of atmospheric entry: ''uncontrolled entry'', such as the ent ...

which probably would have killed human travelers. The

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 ...

series of robotic cargo ships for the

Salyut The ''Salyut'' programme (russian: Салют, , meaning "salute" or "fireworks") was the first space station programme, undertaken by the Soviet Union. It involved a series of four crewed scientific research space stations and two crewed ...

Mir ''Mir'' (russian: Мир, ; ) was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to&n ...

, and ISS use the engine section, orbital module, automatic navigation, docking mechanism, and overall layout of the Soyuz spacecraft, but are incapable of reentry. While not a direct derivative, the Chinese

Shenzhou spacecraft Shenzhou (, ; see ) is a spacecraft developed and operated by China to support its crewed spaceflight program, China Manned Space Program. Its design resembles the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, but it is larger in size. The first launch was on 19 ...

follows the basic template originally pioneered by Soyuz.

Soyuz crewed flights

* Soviet human spaceflight missions started in 1961 and ended in 1991 with the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

. * The Russian human spaceflight missions program started in 1991 and continues to this day. Soyuz crewed missions were the only spacecraft visiting the

, starting from when the

program ended in 2011, until the launch of

Crew Dragon Demo-2 Crew Dragon Demo-2 (officially Crew Demo-2, SpaceX Demo-2, or Demonstration Mission-2) was the first crewed test flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft. The spacecraft, named '' Endeavour'', launched on 30 May 2020 on a Falcon 9 booster, and carr ...

on 30 May 2020. The International Space Station always has at least one Soyuz spacecraft docked at all times for use as an escape craft.Beyond the Saga of Rocket Science: In Space to Stay, By Walter Sierra, page 225-226, 2019

Soyuz uncrewed flights

# Kosmos 133 - launch failure #

Kosmos 140 Kosmos 140 (russian: Космос 140 meaning ''Cosmos 140''), Soyuz 7K-OK No.3, was an uncrewed flight of the Soyuz spacecraft. It was the third attempted test flight of the Soyuz 7K-OK model, after orbital (Kosmos 133) and launch (List of R-7 ...

- reentry damage #

Kosmos 186 Kosmos 186 (russian: Космос-186 meaning ''Cosmos 186'') and Kosmos 188 (russian: Космос-188 meaning ''Cosmos 188'') were two uncrewed Soviet Union spacecraft that incorporated a Soyuz programme descent module for landing scientific ...

# Kosmos 188 #

Kosmos 212 Kosmos 212 (russian: Космос 212 meaning ''Cosmos 212'') was one of a series of Soviet Soyuz programme test spacecraft whose purpose was to further test and develop the passenger version. Scientific data and measurements were relayed to eart ...

Kosmos 213 Kosmos 213 (russian: Космос 213 meaning ''Cosmos 213'') was one of a series of Soviet Soyuz programme test spacecraft whose purpose was to further test and develop the passenger version. Scientific data and measurements were relayed to ear ...

Kosmos 238 Kosmos 238 (russian: Космос 238 meaning ''Cosmos 238'') was the final test series of the Soviet Soyuz spacecraft prior to the launch of Soyuz 2. It tested the orbital maneuvering system, reentry, descent and landing systems that had been modif ...

Soyuz 2 Soyuz 2 (russian: Союз 2, Union 2) was an uncrewed spacecraft in the Soyuz family intended to be the target of a docking maneuver by the crewed Soyuz 3 spacecraft. It was intended to be the first docking of a crewed spacecraft in the Sov ...

- failed to dock # Kosmos 379 # Kosmos 396 # Kosmos 434 # Kosmos 496 # Kosmos 573 #

Kosmos 613 Kosmos 613 (russian: Космос 613 meaning ''Cosmos 613'') was a long-duration orbital storage test of the Soyuz Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз ( Russian and Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a tr ...

Kosmos 638 Kosmos 638 (russian: Космос 638) was an uncrewed test of the 1975 Apollo–Soyuz Test Project Soyuz. It carried an APAS-75 androgynous docking system. This was followed by another uncrewed test of this spacecraft type, Kosmos 672. It was a ...

# Kosmos 656 #

Kosmos 670 Kosmos 670 (russian: Космос 670 meaning ''Cosmos 670'') was an unmanned space mission, unmanned Soyuz (spacecraft), Soyuz Military_Soyuz#Soyuz_7K-S, 7K-S test. It used a new and unique inclination of 50.6 degree. The experience from these fl ...

Kosmos 672 Kosmos 672 (russian: Космос 672 meaning ''Cosmos 672'') was the second uncrewed test of the ASTP Soyuz spacecraft. Also had APAS-75 androgynous docking system. This was preceded by another uncrewed test of this spacecraft type, Kosmos 638 ...

Kosmos 772 Kosmos 772 (russian: Космос 772 meaning ''Cosmos 772'') was an uncrewed spacecraft, uncrewed military Soyuz spacecraft, Soyuz 7K-S test. It was an unsuccessful mission as only one transmitter worked. Only the 166 MHz frequency transmitter ope ...

- partial fail #

Soyuz 20 Soyuz 20 (russian: Союз 20, Union 20) was an unmanned spacecraft launched by the Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 170 ...

Kosmos 869 Kosmos 869 (russian: Космос 869 meaning ''Cosmos 869'') was an uncrewed spacecraft, uncrewed military Soyuz spacecraft, Soyuz 7K-S test. It was a somewhat successful mission. This was the third and final test flight of a new Soyuz spacecraft ...

# Kosmos 1001 #

Kosmos 1074 Kosmos 1074 (russian: Космос 1074 meaning ''Cosmos 1074'') was a Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. ...

Soyuz T-1 Soyuz T-1 (russian: link=no, Союз Т-1, also called Soyuz T) was a 1979-80 unmanned Soviet space flight, a test flight of a new Soyuz craft which docked with the orbiting Salyut 6 space station A space station is a spacecraft capable of ...

Soyuz TM-1 Soyuz TM-1 was an unmanned test flight of the Soyuz-TM spacecraft, intended for use in the Mir space station program. This was the maiden flight of the Soyuz-TM spacecraft, intended as the successor to the Soyuz-T spacecraft used in the Salyut ...

Soyuz MS-14 Soyuz MS-14 was a Soyuz spaceflight to the International Space Station. It carried no crew members, as it was intended to test a modification of the launch abort system for integration with the Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle. It launched successfully ...

Gallery

Image:Soyuz TMA-3 launch.jpg, Soyuz TMA-3 launch Image:Soyuz 19 (Apollo Soyuz Test Project) spacecraft.jpg, Soyuz 19 as seen from the

Apollo spacecraft The Apollo spacecraft was composed of three parts designed to accomplish the American Apollo program's goal of landing astronauts on the Moon by the end of the 1960s and returning them safely to Earth. The expendable (single-use) spacecraft ...

during

Apollo–Soyuz Test Project Apollo–Soyuz was the first crewed international space mission, carried out jointly by the United States and the Soviet Union in July 1975. Millions of people around the world watched on television as a United States Apollo spacecraft docked ...

, July 1975 Image:Expedition 42 Soyuz TMA-14M Landing (201503120102HQ).jpg, Soyuz TMA-14M landing Image:ISS-43 Soyuz TMA 16M approaches the ISS (a).jpg,

Soyuz TMA-16M Soyuz TMA-16M was a 2015 flight to the International Space Station.ISS 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 (J ...

References

{{Use British English, date=January 2014 Human spaceflight programs Crewed space program of Russia Crewed space program of the Soviet Union Projects established in 1963 1963 establishments in the Soviet Union