Soyuz spacecraft
Nave espacial Soyuz
- Date
- 1967 · confidence high
- Place
- Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
- Credited to
- OKB-1 (Korolev; Vasily Mishin and colleagues)
- Field
- Movement
What it is
A three-module craft (orbital, descent and service) that debuted in 1967 and remains in service. It is the most-flown crewed spacecraft in history and was for years the backbone of crew transport to the ISS.
Soyuz 1 (April 1967) ended with the death of Vladimir Komarov when the parachutes failed. The current design, Soyuz MS, derives from the 'Soyuz TMA' version.
What it led to
- the first crew transfer between two craft (Soyuz 4 and 5, 1969)
- transport to Salyut, Mir and the ISS
- the Apollo-Soyuz mission (1975)