The Soyuz programme ( , ; , 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 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

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

Moon landing A Moon landing or lunar landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon, including both crewed and robotic missions. The first human-made object to touch the Moon was Luna 2 in 1959. In 1969 Apollo 11 was the first cr ...

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 List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

. It was the third Soviet

programme after the Vostok (1961–1963) and Voskhod (1964–1965) programmes. The programme consists of the Soyuz capsule and the Soyuz rocket and is now the responsibility of

Roscosmos The State Corporation for Space Activities "Roscosmos", commonly known simply as Roscosmos (), is a State corporation (Russia), state corporation of the Russian Federation responsible for space science, space flights, List of space agencies, c ...

. After the retirement of the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, 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. ...

in 2011, the Soyuz was the only way for humans to get to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

(ISS) until 30 May 2020 when

Crew Dragon Dragon 2 is a class of partially reusable spacecraft developed, manufactured, and operated by the American space company SpaceX for flights to the International Space Station (ISS) and private spaceflight missions. The spacecraft, which consi ...

flew to the ISS for the first time with astronauts.

Soyuz rocket

The launch vehicles used in the Soyuz

expendable launch system An expendable launch system (or expendable launch vehicle/ELV) is a launch vehicle that can be launched only once, after which its components are destroyed during reentry or impact with Earth, or discarded in space. ELVs typically consist of s ...

are manufactured at the Progress State Research and Production Rocket Space Center (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 company. Currently Soyuz vehicles are launched from the

Baikonur Cosmodrome The Baikonur Cosmodrome is a spaceport operated by Russia within Kazakhstan. Located in the Kazakh city of Baikonur, it is the largest operational space launch facility in terms of area. All Russian Human spaceflight, crewed spaceflights are l ...

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

Guiana Space Centre The Guiana Space Centre (; CSG), also called Europe's Spaceport, is a spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas region of France in South America. Kourou is located approxim ...

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. The Soyuz rocket family is one of the most dependable and widely utilized launch vehicles in the history of space travel. It has been in operation for nearly six decades, having been developed by the

and presently run by

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. The Soyuz rockets have played an important role in both crewed and uncrewed space missions, launching people to the

(ISS) and delivering satellites and scientific payloads.

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 The 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, had multistage rocket, three stages, and was powered by liquid-propel ...

or the Soviet N-1 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, 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 *a small aerodynamic reentry module *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 crewed spacecraft proposal to replace Vostok (1959) ** L1-1960 crewed circumlunar spacecraft proposal (1960); evolved into the Soyuz-A design ** L4-1960 crewed lunar orbiter proposal (1960) ** L1-1962 crewed 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 crewed spacecraft concept; cancelled in 1964 in favor of the

LK-1 LK-1 was a projected Soviet crewed lunar flyby spacecraft. It would be launched on a three-stage Proton launch vehicle. The project started in 1962 under the lead engineer Vladimir Chelomey, with the first flight planned for 1967. The LK-1 had ...

** Soyuz 9K proposed orbital tug; cancelled in 1964 when the Soyuz 7K and Soyuz P were cancelled ** Soyuz 11K proposed fuel tanker; cancelled in 1964 when the Soyuz 7K and Soyuz P were cancelled * L3-1963 crewed lunar lander proposal (1963) * L4-1963 crewed lunar orbiter proposal; modified 7K (1963) * Soyuz 7K-OK (1967–1970) **

Soyuz 7K-L1 Soyuz 7K-L1 "Zond" spacecraft was designed to launch cosmonaut, cosmonauts from the Earth to circle the Moon without going into lunar orbit in the context of the Soviet crewed lunar programs, Soviet crewed Moon-flyby program in the Moon race. ...

Zond (1967–1970) ** Soyuz 7K-L3 LOK (1971–1972) ** Soyuz 7K-OKS (1971); also known as 7KT-OK * Soyuz 7K-T or "ferry" (1973–1981) ** Soyuz 7K-T-AF (1973); 7K-T modified for space station flight with Orion 2 space telescope ** Soyuz 7K-T/A9 (1974–1978); 7K-T modified for flights to military Almaz space stations * Soyuz 7K-TM (1974–1976) ** 7K-MF6 (1976); 7K-TM modified for space station flight with MKF-6 camera *

Soyuz-T The Soyuz-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 Apollo Soyuz Test ...

(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 (1986–2003) * Soyuz TMA (2003–2012) * Soyuz-ACTS (2006) * Soyuz TMA-M (2010–2016) *

Soyuz MS The Soyuz MS (; GRAU: 11F732A48) is the latest version of the Russian Soyuz (spacecraft), Soyuz spacecraft series, first launched in 2016. The "MS" stands for "modernized systems," reflecting upgrades primarily focused on the communications and ...

(since 2016) * Military Soyuz (P, PPK, R, 7K-VI Zvezda, and OIS) ** Soyuz P crewed satellite interceptor proposal (1962); cancelled in 1964 in favor of the

Istrebitel Sputnikov Istrebitel Sputnikov, or IS (, ИС, meaning "destroyer of satellites"), was a Soviet Union, Soviet anti-satellite weapons programme which led to the deployment of the IS-A or I2P system during the 1970s and 1980s. IS satellites were originally ...

program ** Soyuz R command-reconnaissance spacecraft proposal (1962); cancelled in 1966 and replaced by Almaz *** Soyuz rocket and spaceship V1-1

Soyuz 7K-TK transport spacecraft proposal for delivering cosmonauts to Soyuz R military stations (1966); cancelled in 1970 in favor of the TKS spacecraft ** Soyuz PPK revised version of Soyuz P (1964) ** Soyuz 7K-VI Zvezda space station proposal (1964) ** Soyuz-VI crewed 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 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 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 (sometimes listed as Vimpact or Ventry) 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. Atmospheric entry may be ''uncontrolled entr ...

which probably would have killed human travelers. The

Progress Progress is movement towards a perceived refined, improved, or otherwise desired state. It is central to the philosophy of progressivism, which interprets progress as the set of advancements in technology, science, and social organization effic ...

series of robotic cargo ships for the

Salyut The ''Salyut'' programme (, , 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 military reconnaissa ...

Mir ''Mir'' (, ; ) was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, first by the Soviet Union and later by the Russia, Russian Federation. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to ...

, 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 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 Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

. * 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 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 - reentry damage # Kosmos 186 # Kosmos 188 # Kosmos 212 # Kosmos 213 # Kosmos 238 # Soyuz 2 - failed to dock #

Kosmos 379 Kosmos 379 ( meaning "Cosmos 379"), also known as T2K No.1, was an uncrewed test of the LK (spacecraft), LK (the Soviet counterpart of the Apollo Lunar Module) in Earth orbit. Mission Earth orbit simulated propulsion system operations of a nomin ...

# Kosmos 396 # Kosmos 434 # Kosmos 496 # Kosmos 573 # Kosmos 613 # Kosmos 638 # Kosmos 656 # Kosmos 670 # Kosmos 672 # Kosmos 772 - partial fail # Soyuz 20 # Kosmos 869 # Kosmos 1001 # Kosmos 1074 # Soyuz 34 # Soyuz T-1 # Soyuz TM-1 # Soyuz MS-14 # Soyuz MS-23

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, 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 approaching the ISS

References

{{Russian space program 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