Soyuz spacecraft

Soyuz spacecraft (Russian: ????, English: Soyuz) is a manned spacecraft designed by the former Soviet Union. It is developed by the first special design agency (i Nur space launch site, also a small number of launches in Russia's Plesetsk space launch site and French Guiana Space Center.

The series of spacecraft has been flying since the 1960s and is still in use. The Soyuz spacecraft is the third manned spacecraft developed by the Soviet Union after the eastern spacecraft and the ascending spacecraft. It has the longest service time, the highest launch frequency and the best reliability in the world at present. Its original design purpose is to serve as the Earth Moon return tool in the Soviet Union's manned lunar landing plan. However, because the Soviet Union later cancelled the lunar landing plan, the Soyuz The range of the Soyuz's activities is thus limited to earth orbit. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the manufacture and launch of the Soyuz was transferred to the control of the Russian Federal Space Agency, which was mainly responsible for the personnel transportation and materal supply of the Mir space station and the international space station. In 2011, the Soyuz spacecraft became the only means of transportation for astronauts to and from the international space station after the retirement of the space shuttle belonging to NASA.

There are many improved models of Soyuz spacecraft. Other spacecraft derived from Soyuz include: detector, Soyuz T, Soyuz TM, Soyuz TMA, Soyuz MS and Progress cargo spacecraft.

On December 3, 2018, the Soyuz, carrying three astronauts, successfully lifted off from the Baikonur space launch site in Kazakhstan and will go to the international space station.