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The Soyuz (meaning "union", GRAU index 11A511) is an expendable launch system
Expendable launch system

An expendable launch system is a launch system that uses an expendable launch vehicle to carry a payload into space. The vehicles used in expendable launch systems are designed to be used only once , and their components are not recovered after launch....
 manufactured by TsSKB-Progress in Samara, Russia
Samara, Russia

Samara is list of cities and towns in Russia by population types of inhabited localities in Russia in Russia. It is situated in the southeastern part of European Russia, the Volga Federal District....
. It is used as the launcher for the manned Soyuz spacecraft as part of the Soyuz program. It is now also used to launch unmanned Progress supply spacecraft to the International Space Station
International Space Station

The International Space Station is a research facility Assembly of the International Space Station in outer space. On-orbit construction of the station began in 1998, and is scheduled to be complete by 2011, with operations continuing until around 2015....
 and for commercial launches marketed and operated by TsSKB-Progress and the Centre Spatial Guyanais
Centre Spatial Guyanais

File:Plan Centre Spatial Guyanais-fr.svgThe Guiana Space Centre, or more commonly, Centre Spatial Guyanais is a France spaceport near Kourou in French Guiana....
 in French Guiana
French Guiana

French Guiana is an overseas department of France, located on the northern coast of South America. Like the other Overseas departments, French Guiana is also an overseas region of France, one of the 26 regions of France, and is an integral part of the French Republic....
. Soyuz-U
Soyuz-U

The Soyuz-U launch vehicle is an improved version of the original Soyuz LV. Soyuz-U is part of the R-7 of rockets based on the R-7 Semyorka missile....
 rockets are fueled with kerosene
Kerosene

Kerosene, sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage, also known as paraffin, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid....
, but the Soyuz-U2
Soyuz-U2

The Soyuz-U2 was a Soviet Union, later Russian, carrier rocket. It was derived from the Soyuz-U, and a member of the R-7 family of rockets. It featured increased performance compared to the baseline Soyuz-U, due to the use of syntin propellant, as opposed to RP-1 paraffin, used on the Soyuz-U....
 rocket used a variant called Syntin.






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The Soyuz (meaning "union", GRAU index 11A511) is an expendable launch system
Expendable launch system

An expendable launch system is a launch system that uses an expendable launch vehicle to carry a payload into space. The vehicles used in expendable launch systems are designed to be used only once , and their components are not recovered after launch....
 manufactured by TsSKB-Progress in Samara, Russia
Samara, Russia

Samara is list of cities and towns in Russia by population types of inhabited localities in Russia in Russia. It is situated in the southeastern part of European Russia, the Volga Federal District....
. It is used as the launcher for the manned Soyuz spacecraft as part of the Soyuz program. It is now also used to launch unmanned Progress supply spacecraft to the International Space Station
International Space Station

The International Space Station is a research facility Assembly of the International Space Station in outer space. On-orbit construction of the station began in 1998, and is scheduled to be complete by 2011, with operations continuing until around 2015....
 and for commercial launches marketed and operated by TsSKB-Progress and the Centre Spatial Guyanais
Centre Spatial Guyanais

File:Plan Centre Spatial Guyanais-fr.svgThe Guiana Space Centre, or more commonly, Centre Spatial Guyanais is a France spaceport near Kourou in French Guiana....
 in French Guiana
French Guiana

French Guiana is an overseas department of France, located on the northern coast of South America. Like the other Overseas departments, French Guiana is also an overseas region of France, one of the 26 regions of France, and is an integral part of the French Republic....
. Soyuz-U
Soyuz-U

The Soyuz-U launch vehicle is an improved version of the original Soyuz LV. Soyuz-U is part of the R-7 of rockets based on the R-7 Semyorka missile....
 rockets are fueled with kerosene
Kerosene

Kerosene, sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage, also known as paraffin, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid....
, but the Soyuz-U2
Soyuz-U2

The Soyuz-U2 was a Soviet Union, later Russian, carrier rocket. It was derived from the Soyuz-U, and a member of the R-7 family of rockets. It featured increased performance compared to the baseline Soyuz-U, due to the use of syntin propellant, as opposed to RP-1 paraffin, used on the Soyuz-U....
 rocket used a variant called Syntin. In the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, it has the Library of Congress
Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is the de facto national library of the United States and the research arm of the United States Congress. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and holds the largest number of books....
 designation A-2.

History

The launcher was introduced in 1966, deriving from the Vostok launcher, which in turn was based on the 8K74 or R-7a intercontinental ballistic missile
Intercontinental ballistic missile

An intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, is a long-range ballistic missile typically designed for nuclear weapons delivery, that is, delivering one or more nuclear weapon....
. It was initially a three-stage rocket with a Block I upper stage. Later a Molniya variant
Molniya (rocket)

Molniya 8K78 was a modification of the well-known R-7 Semyorka rocket and has four stages.This derivative of the original three stage Vostok rocket was especially designed to bring high flying satellites into orbit or to launch probes to other planets....
 was produced by adding a fourth stage, allowing it to reach the highly elliptical molniya orbit
Molniya orbit

A Molniya orbit is a type of highly elliptical orbit with an inclination of 63.4 Degree s and an orbital period of about 12 hours. Molniya orbits are named after a series of Soviet Union/Russian Molniya communications satellites which have been using this type of orbit since the mid 1960s....
. A later variant was the Soyuz-U
Soyuz-U

The Soyuz-U launch vehicle is an improved version of the original Soyuz LV. Soyuz-U is part of the R-7 of rockets based on the R-7 Semyorka missile....
.

The production of Soyuz launchers reached a peak of 60 per year in the early 1980s. It has become the world's most used space launcher, flying over 1700 times, far more than any other rocket. It is a very old basic design, but is notable for low cost and very high reliability, both of which appeal to commercial clients.

Soyuz Rocket Engines
In the early 1990s plans were made for a redesigned Soyuz with a Fregat
Fregat

Fregat is a is a type of rocket multistage rocket developed by NPO Lavochkin in the 1990s. Its main engine is a liquid rocket that uses UDMH and N2O4 as propellants....
 upper stage. The Fregat engine was developed by NPO Lavochkin from the propulsion module of its Phobos interplanetary probes. Although endorsed by the Russian Space Agency and the Russian Ministry of Defence
Russian Ministry of Defence

The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation exercises operational leadership of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.The Russian Minister of Defence is the nominal commander of all the armed forces, serving under the president of the Russian Federation, in whom executive authority over the military is vested....
 in 1993 and designated "Rus" as a Russification and modernisation of Soyuz, and later renamed Soyuz-2, a funding shortage prevented implementation of the plan. The creation of Starsem
Starsem

Starsem is a European-Russian company that was created in 1996 to commercialise the Soyuz launch vehicle. Starsem has the following shareholders:...
 in July 1996 provided new funding for the creation of a less ambitious variant, the Soyuz-Fregat or Soyuz U/Fregat. This consisted of a slightly modified Soyuz U combined with the Fregat upper stage, with a capacity of up to 1,350 kg to geostationary transfer orbit
Geostationary transfer orbit

A Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit or Geostationary Transfer Orbit is anintermediate orbit used to reach geostationary orbit. It is a highly ellipse earth orbit with apogee at about 35,700 km, geostationary orbit altitude, and a argument of perigee such that apogee occurs on or near the equator....
. In April 1997, Starsem obtained a contract from the European Space Agency
European Space Agency

The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmentalism organisation dedicated to the Space exploration, currently with 18 member states....
 to launch two pairs of Cluster 2 plasma science satellite
Satellite

In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an Physical body which has been placed into orbit by human endeavor. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
s using the Soyuz-Fregat. Before the introduction of this new model, Starsem launched 24 satellites of the Globalstar
Globalstar

Globalstar is a low Earth orbit satellite constellation for satellite phone and low-speed data communications, somewhat similar to the Iridium satellite constellation and Orbcomm satellite systems....
 constellation in 6 launches with a restartable Ikar upper stage, between September 22, 1999 and November 22, 1999. After successful test flights of Soyuz-Fregat on February 9, 2000 and March 20, 2000, the Cluster 2 satellites were launched on July 16, 2000 and August 9, 2000. Another Soyuz-Fregat launched the ESA's Mars Express
Mars Express

Mars Express is a space exploration mission being conducted by the European Space Agency . The Mars Express mission is exploring the planet Mars , and is the first planetary mission attempted by the agency....
 probe from Baikonur in June 2003. Now the Soyuz-Fregat launcher is used by Starsem for commercial payloads. It is due to be replaced by the new launcher, now named Soyuz/ST (or Soyuz-2), which will have a new digital guidance system and a strongly modified third stage with a new engine. The first development version of Soyuz 2 called Soyuz-2-1a, which is already equipped with the digital guidance system, but is still propelled by an old third stage engine, started on November 4, 2004 from Plesetsk on a suborbital test flight, followed by an orbital flight on October 23, 2006 from Baikonur. The fully-modified launcher (version Soyuz-2-1b) flew first on December 27, 2006 with the COROT
Corot

Corot may refer to:* Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, French landscape painter * COROT, a space mission with the dual aims of finding extrasolar planets and performing asteroseismology...
 satellite from the Baikonur Cosmodrome
Baikonur Cosmodrome

The Baikonur Cosmodrome , also called Tjuratam, is the world's first and largest operational Spaceport. It is located in the desert steppes of Kazakhstan, about east of the Aral Sea, north of the Syr Darya river, near Tyuratam railway station....
.

A long string of successful Soyuz launches was broken on October 15, 2002 when the unmanned Soyuz U launch of the Photon-M satellite from Plesetsk fell back near the launch pad and exploded 29 seconds after lift-off. One person from the ground crew was killed and eight injured. Another failure occurred on June 21, 2005, during a Molniya
Molniya (satellite)

Molniya was a military communications satellite system used by the Soviet Union. The satellites were placed into highly Orbital eccentricity elliptical orbits known as Molniya orbits, characterised by an inclination of +63.4 Degree s and a Orbital period of around 12 hours....
 military
Military

A military is an organization authorized by its nation to use force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or Threat of force ....
 communications satellite
Communications satellite

A communications satellite is an artificial satellite stationed in space for the purposes of telecommunications. Modern communications satellites use a variety of orbits including geostationary orbits, Molniya orbits, other elliptical orbits and low Earth orbits....
 launch from the Plesetsk launch site, which used a four-stage version of the rocket called Molniya-M
Molniya-M

The Molniya-M , designation GRAU, is a Russian Launch vehicle derived from the R-7 Semyorka Intercontinental ballistic missile. First launched in 1964, it had replaced its predecessor Molniya by the end of 1965....
. The flight ended six minutes after the launch because of a failure of the third stage engine or an unfulfilled order to separate the second and third stages. The rocket's second and third stages, which are identical to the Soyuz, and its payload (a Molniya-3K satellite) crashed in the Uvatski region of Tyumen
Tyumen

Tyumen is a types of inhabited localities in Russia in Urals Federal District in Russia, located on the Tura River east of Moscow. It is the administrative center and the largest city of Tyumen Oblast in the Urals Federal District....
  (Siberia
Siberia

Siberia , is the name given to the vast region constituting almost all of North Asia and for the most part currently serving as the massive central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, having served in the same capacity previously for the Soviet Union from its beginning, and the Russian Empire beginning in the 16th century....
) . However, under this designation of Molniya-M launcher, the other 274 unmanned Soyuz launches have been successful.

Between February 1, 2003 and July 26, 2005 with the grounding of the US Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle

NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called the Space Transportation System , is the spacecraft currently used by the United States government for its human spaceflight missions....
 fleet, Soyuz was the only means of transportation to and from the International Space Station. This included the transfer of supplies, via Progress spacecraft, and crew changeovers.

Soyuz (in the new version Soyuz/ST) is also planned to be brought into ESA
European Space Agency

The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmentalism organisation dedicated to the Space exploration, currently with 18 member states....
 service in 2008 under a Russo-European joint venture. A new launch pad is being built at the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana
French Guiana

French Guiana is an overseas department of France, located on the northern coast of South America. Like the other Overseas departments, French Guiana is also an overseas region of France, one of the 26 regions of France, and is an integral part of the French Republic....
.

Assembling the rocket

Soyuz Rocket Assembly
The rocket is assembled not vertically, but horizontally in the Assembly and Testing Building. The assembled rocket is transported to the launch site in its horizontal state and then raised. This is different from the vertical assembly of, for example, the Saturn V
Saturn V

The Saturn V was a multistage rocket liquid-fuel expendable launch system rocket used by NASA's Apollo program and Skylab programs from 1967 until 1973....
 - one of the features which makes Soyuz cheaper to prepare for launch.

Assembling a horizontally positioned rocket is relatively simple as all modules are easily accessible. Also, assembling the rocket in vertical position would require a windproof highrise hangar, which was not considered economically feasible at the time the rocket was designed.


Launch pad

The entire rocket is suspended in the launch system by the load-bearing mechanisms on the strap-on boosters where they are attached to the central core. The latter rests on the nose sections of the strap-on boosters. This scheme resembles flight conditions when the strap-on boosters push the central core forward. The concept of suspending the rocket was one of the novelties introduced with the R-7/Soyuz.

Since the launch pad has been eliminated, the bottom portion of the missile is lowered. The launch system trusses bear the wind loads. Resistance to high wind is an important feature of the launch system, as the Kazakhstan steppes, where the Baikonur launch site is located, are known for windstorms.


Launch

During launch, the support booms track the movement of the rocket. After the support boom heads emerged from the special support recess in the nose sections of the strapons, the support booms and trusses disconnect from the rocket airframe, swiveling on the support axes and freeing the way for the rocket to lift off. During launch, the rocket and the launch facility form a single dynamic system.

When the engines of strapon boosters stop, the boosters fall away, providing nonimpact separation. If the skies are clear, ground observers can see a Korolyov cross
Korolyov cross

The Korolyov cross is a visual effect observed in the smoke plumes of the R-7 Semyorka rocket and its R-7 , during separation of the four liquid-fuelled booster rockets attached to the core stage....
 formed by the falling boosters.

Stages


First stage

The first stage of Soyuz rockets consists of four identical conical liquid booster rockets, strapped to the second stage core. Each booster has a single rocket motor with four combustion chambers, two vernier combustion chambers, and one set of turbopumps.

Statistics (each of 4 boosters)
  • Gross mass: 44.5 t
    Tonne

    A tonne or metric ton , also referred to as a metric tonne, is a measurement of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms, or 2204.6226 pounds....
     (98,100 lbm)
  • Propellant: 39.2 t (86,400 lbm)
  • Dry mass: 3,784 kg (8,342 lbm)
  • Diameter: 2.68 m (8 ft 10 in)
  • Length: 19.6 m (64 ft 4 in)
  • Burn time: 118 s
  • Engines:
    • Soyuz and Soyuz-U models
      • RD-107
        RD-107

        File:RD-107 Vostok.jpgThe RD-107 is a type of rocket engine initially used to launch R-7 Semyorka missiles. RD-107 engines were later used on space launch vehicles based on the R-7....
        • Thrust 813 kN (183 klbf
          Pound-force

          The pound-force or simply pound is a Units of measurement of force....
          ) at liftoff
        • Thrust 991 kN (223 klbf) in vacuum
        • Specific impulse 245 s (2.40 kN新/kg) at liftoff
        • Specific impulse 310 s (3.04 kN新/kg) in vacuum
        • Chamber pressure 5.85 MPa (848 psi)
    • Soyuz-ST models
      • RD-117 (11D511)
        • Thrust 838 kN (188 klbf) at liftoff
        • Thrust 1021 kN (230 klbf) in vacuum
        • Specific impulse 245 s (2.40 kN新/kg) at liftoff (est)
        • Specific impulse 310 s (3.04 kN新/kg) in vacuum (est)
        • Chamber pressure 5.85 MPa (848 psi)
    • Soyuz-FG
      • RD-117A (14D22)
        • Thrust 775 kN (174 klbf
          Pound-force

          The pound-force or simply pound is a Units of measurement of force....
          ) at liftoff
        • Specific impulse 320.2 s (3.14 kN新/kg) in vacuum


Second stage

The second stage of the Soyuz booster is a single, generally cylindrical stage with one motor at the base. Like each of the first-stage rockets, it also has four combustion chambers and one set of turbopumps, but four (instead of two) vernier combustion chambers. The second stage tapers toward the bottom to allow the four first stage rockets to fit more closely together.

  • Gross mass: 105.4 t (232,400 lbm)
  • Propellant: 95.4 t (210,000 lbm)
  • Propellant (Soyuz-U2 with Syntin propellant): 96.4 t (212,000 lbm)
  • Dry mass: 6,875 kg (15,160 lbm)
  • Length: 28 m (91 ft 10 in)
  • Diameter: 2.95 m (9 ft 8 in)
  • Burn time: 290 s
  • Engines:
    • Soyuz and Soyuz-U models
      • RD-108
        • Thrust 779 kN (175 klbf) at liftoff
        • Thrust 997 kN (224 klbf) in vacuum
        • Specific impulse 264 s (2.59 kN新/kg) at liftoff
        • Specific impulse 311 s (3.05 kN新/kg) in vacuum
        • Chamber pressure 5.1 MPa (740 psi)
    • Soyuz-U2 model with Syntin fuel
      • RD-108
        • Thrust 811 kN (182 klbf) at liftoff
        • Thrust 1009 kN (227 klbf) in vacuum
        • Specific impulse 264 s (2.59 kN新/kg) at liftoff
        • Specific impulse 311 s (3.05 kN新/kg) in vacuum
        • Chamber pressure 5.1 MPa (740 psi)
    • Soyuz-ST models
      • RD-118 (11D512)
        • Thrust 792 kN (178 klbf) at liftoff
        • Thrust 990 kN (222 klbf) in vacuum
        • Specific impulse 264 s (2.59 kN新/kg) at liftoff (est)
        • Specific impulse 311 s (3.05 kN新/kg) in vacuum (est)
        • Chamber pressure 5.85 MPa (848 psi)


Third stage

There are two variant upper stages in use, the Block I and Improved Block-I (used in Soyuz-2-1b).
  • Gross mass: 25.2 t (55,600 lbm)
  • Propellant: 21.4-22.9 t (47,200–50,500 lbm)
  • Dry mass: 2355 kg (5190 lbm)
  • Length: 6.7 m (22 ft 0 in)
  • Diameter: 2.66 m (8 ft 9 in)
  • Burn time: 240 s
  • Engine:
    • Block I
      • RD-0110
      • Thrust 298 kN (67.0 klbf)
      • Specific impulse 330 s (3.24 kN新/kg)
      • Chamber pressure 6.8 MPa (986 psi)
    • Improved Block I
      • RD-0124
        RD-0124

        The RD-0124 is a rocket engine burning liquid oxygen and kerosene in a staged combustion cycle . RD-0124 engines are used on the Soyuz-2 ....
         (11D451)
      • Thrust 294 kN (66 klbf)
      • Specific impulse 359 s (3.52 kN新/kg)
      • Chamber pressure 16.2 MPa (2350 psi)


Fairings used for unmanned missions


The Soyuz LV is used for various Russian unmanned missions and is also marketed by Starsem for commercial satellite launches. Presently the following fairing types are used:

Progress is the cargo spacecraft for unmanned missions to the ISS and previously to Mir. The spacecraft uses a dedicated platform and fairing and can be launched with either Soyuz-U, Souyz-FG or Soyuz-2.

A-type fairing is used for commercial launches.

S-type fairing is used for commercial launches by Starsem. The fairing has external diameter of 3.7 m and a length of 7.7 m. The Fregat upper stage is encapsulated in the fairing with the payload and a payload adapter/dispenser. S-type fairing along with Fregat upper stage were used to launch the following spacecraft: Galaxy 14, GIOVE A, Mars Express, AMOS-2, Venus Express, Cluster.

SL-type fairing is used for commercial launches by Starsem. The fairing has external diameter of 3.7 m and a length of 8.45 m. The Fregat upper stage is encapsulated in the fairing with the payload and a payload adapter/dispenser. SL-type fairing along with Fregat upper stage were used to launch the following spacecraft: COROT
Corot

Corot may refer to:* Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, French landscape painter * COROT, a space mission with the dual aims of finding extrasolar planets and performing asteroseismology...
.

ST-type fairing is used for commercial launches by Starsem. Its external diameter is 4.1 m and its length is 11.4 m. It can be used with the Soyuz-2 only, because older analog control system cannot cope with aerodynamic instability introduced by a fairing as large as this. This carbon-plastic fairing and the payload adapter are derived from Ariane 4
Ariane 4

Ariane 4 was an expendable launch system, designed by the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales and manufactured and marketed by its subsidiary Arianespace....
. This will be the only fairing type offered by Starsem/Arianespace for launches from Kourou.

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