The Soyuz (, meaning "union",

GRAU index The Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (), commonly referred to by its transliterated acronym GRAU (), is a department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. It is subordinate to the Chief of ...

11A511) was a

Soviet 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 ...

expendable ''Expendable'' is a science fiction novel by the Canadian author James Alan Gardner, published in 1997 by HarperCollins Publishers under its various imprints.Avon Books; HarperCollins Canada; SFBC/AvoNova. Paperback edition 1997, Eos Books. It i ...

carrier rocket A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistag ...

designed in the 1960s by

OKB-1 S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation "Energia" () is a Russian manufacturer of spacecraft and space station components. Its name is derived from the Russian word for energy and is also named for Sergei Korolev, Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, th ...

and manufactured by State Aviation Plant No. 1 in Kuybyshev, Soviet Union. It was commissioned to launch

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 ...

as part of the Soviet human spaceflight program, first with eight uncrewed test flights, followed by the first 19 crewed launches. The original Soyuz also propelled four test flights of the improved

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 ...

capsule between 1972 and 1974. It flew 30 successful missions over ten years and suffered two failures. The Soyuz 11A511 type, a member of the R-7 family of rockets, first flew in 1966 and was an attempt to standardize the R-7 family and get rid of the variety of models that existed up to that point. It was basically a Molniya 8K78M without the Blok L stage. It featured the 8D74M RD-107 and the RD-110 engines from the 8K78M, The new, uprated core stage and strap-ons became standard for all R-7 derived launch vehicles to replace the numerous older variants in use. The RD-0110 engine had been introduced on the 8K78M booster in 1964 and was also used in 11A511s due to its enhanced performance, while Voskhod boosters continued using the less powerful RD-0107. The AVD malfunction detection system, variants of which are a standard component of all Soviet/Russian SLVs, would issue an automatic shutdown command to the booster if operating parameters such as electrical power, engine performance, or flight trajectory deviated from normal, and on manned launches also activate the Launch Escape System. This would prevent a malfunctioning launch vehicle from flying around erratically and ensure it fell to the ground and impacted in a predictable location. The AVD on the 11A511 was blocked from operating until T+8 seconds to ensure the booster's systems had stabilized and entered mainstage operation, but the actual shutdown command was not transmitted until T+20 seconds to prevent the booster from falling back on the pad. Nonetheless, several launches failed over the years due to problems with the AVD itself, which issued erroneous shutdown commands. Starting in 1973, the original Soyuz rocket was gradually superseded by the

Soyuz-U Soyuz-U ( GRAU index: 11A511U) was a Soviet and later Russian expendable medium-lift launch vehicle designed by the TsSKB design bureau and constructed at the Progress factory in Samara, Russia. The ''U'' designation stands for ''unified' ...

type. It became the world's most prolific launcher, flying hundreds of missions over 43 years until its retirement in 2017. Other direct variants were Soyuz-L for

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...

tests of the LK lunar lander (three flights) and Soyuz-M built for a quickly abandoned military spacecraft and used for

reconnaissance satellites A reconnaissance satellite or intelligence satellite (commonly, although unofficially, referred to as a spy satellite) is an Earth observation satellite or communications satellite deployed for Military intelligence, military or espionag ...

instead (eight flights). The aborted Soyuz 18-1 launch in 1975 was the final crewed flight of the 11A511, and as it occurred shortly before the ASTP mission, the United States requested that the Soviets provide details about this failure. They stated that Soyuz 19 would be using the newer 11A5511U booster model (i.e.

), so the Soyuz 18-1 malfunction had no bearing on it. Soyuz rockets were assembled horizontally in the MIK Building at the launch site. The rocket was then rolled out, and erected on the launch pad.

Notes

References

{{Soyuz 1966 in spaceflight 1976 in spaceflight R-7 (rocket family) Soyuz program Space launch vehicles of the Soviet Union Vehicles introduced in 1966