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 of Roscosmos State Corporation responsible for

space science Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...

and aerospace research. It was the developer of the famous Soyuz-FG rocket that was used for crewed space flight, as well as the Soyuz-U that was used for launching uncrewed probes.

Overview

Progress Centre was the developer and manufacturer of the Soyuz FG series of launch vehicles that were used for

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 ...

launches, and the Soyuz-U series that were used for

robotic spacecraft A robotic spacecraft is an uncrewed spacecraft, usually under telerobotic control. A robotic spacecraft designed to make scientific research measurements is often called a space probe. Many space missions are more suited to telerobotic rather t ...

launches. Commercial marketing of these launch vehicles was handled by the company Starsem. TsSKB-Progress' satellite products include the Foton and Foton-M science satellite series, the Yantar military satellites and the

Resurs DK Resurs-DK No.1, also called Resurs-DK1, was a commercial Earth observation satellite capable of transmitting high-resolution imagery (up to 0.9 m) to the ground stations as it passed overhead. The spacecraft was operated by NTs OMZ, the Russian R ...

Earth resource satellite. The company's main production facilities are located in the city of

Samara 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 (Volga), Samara rivers, with ...

, Russia. They include a design bureau, a large R-7 factory called Progress and an affiliate design bureau

KB Foton KB, kB or kb may stand for: Businesses and organizations Banks * KB Kookmin Bank, South Korea * Kaupthing Bank, Iceland * Komerční banka, Czech Republic * Kasikornbank, Thailand * Karafarin Bank, Iran Libraries * National Library of Sweden ...

. Up to 25,000 people work in the Progress factory; of them, 5,000 work in rocket and satellite systems, and 360 work on the R-7 production line at any given time. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the factory has also diversified into machine tools, vodka and sweets.

History

In 1941, the State Aviation Plant No.1 was moved from Moscow to the city now known as

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 ...

, near the Volga River. The plant, named Dooks, had been created in 1917, using facilities in Moscow which had previously been used for the manufacture of bicycles, motorcycles, and various other vehicles. Before World War II, the plant had manufactured several aeroplane models at the Moscow location, including the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3. During the war, the plant manufactured Ilyushin Il-2 and Ilyushin Il-10 aircraft. In 1946, it began production of Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-9 and

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 (russian: Микоя́н и Гуре́вич МиГ-15; USAF/DoD designation: Type 14; NATO reporting name: Fagot) is a jet fighter aircraft developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich for the Soviet Union. The MiG-15 was one of ...

jet fighters, and in 1954, it started to produce Tupolev Tu-16 bombers. On 2 January 1958, the Soviet Union government ordered State Aviation Plant No.1 to begin production of

R-7 Semyorka The R-7 Semyorka (russian: link=no, Р-7 Семёрка), officially the GRAU index 8K71, was a Soviet missile developed during the Cold War, and the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile. The R-7 made 28 launches between 1957 and 1 ...

rockets. The Central Specialized Design Bureau (TsSKB) was established on 30 June 1974. Dmitri Kozlov, who had been the chief designer of the R-7 and a Deputy Chief Designer of ОКB-1, was appointed General Designer of TsSKB on 6 July 1983. On 12 April 1996, two Russian aerospace organizations, the Central Specialized Design Bureau (russian: Центральное специализированное конструкторское бюро), TsSKB, and the Samara Progress plant were merged to form TsSKB-Progress. In 2003,

A.N. Kirilin An, AN, aN, or an may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Airlinair (IATA airline code AN) * Alleanza Nazionale, a former political party in Italy * AnimeNEXT, an annual anime convention located in New Jersey * Anime North, a Canadian an ...

was appointed as General Director of "TsSKB-Progress", and D.I. Kozlov became its Honorary General Designer.

Rockets and missiles

* Molniya-M * Rus-M * Soyuz FG * Soyuz-U * Soyuz-U2 * Soyuz-1 * Soyuz-2 * Volga

Satellites

* Bion * Zenit * Foton * Resurs * Yantar *

Orlets Orlets (russian: Орлец) was a series of Russian, and previously Soviet photoreconnaissance satellites derived from and intended to augment the Yantar series of spacecraft. Ten satellites were launched between 1989 and 2006; eight in the Orlet ...

* Persona * Pion-NKS * Lotos

References

External links