Soyuz-U
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2011) |
 The Soyuz TMA-3 vehicle launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan October 18, 2003 |
|
| Function | Orbital carrier rocket |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | TsSKB-Progress |
| Country of origin | Soviet Union (Russia) |
| Size | |
| Height | 51.1 m for Soyuz-U; 47.3 m for Soyuz-U/Ikar and 46.7 m for Soyuz-U/Fregat |
| Diameter | 3 m [1] |
| Mass | 313,000 kg (Soyuz-U); 308,000 kg (Soyuz-U/Ikar and Soyuz-U/Fregat) |
| Stages | 2 (Soyuz-U) or 3 (Soyuz-U/Ikar and Soyuz-U/Fregat) |
| Capacity | |
| Payload to LEO | 6,900 kg from Baikonur and 6,700 kg from Plesetsk |
| Associated rockets | |
| Family | R-7 (Soyuz) |
| Derivatives | Soyuz-U2 Soyuz-FG |
| Launch history | |
| Status | Active |
| Launch sites | LC-1 & LC-31, Baikonur LC-16 & LC-43, Plesetsk |
| Total launches | 745 |
| Successes | 724 |
| Failures | 21 |
| Maiden flight | 18 May 1973[2] |
| Notable payloads | Soyuz spacecraft Progress spacecraft |
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Soyuz (rocket) |
The Soyuz-U launch vehicle (LV) is an improved version of the original Soyuz LV. Soyuz-U is part of the R-7 family of rockets based on the R-7 Semyorka missile. Members of this rocket family were designed by the TsSKB design bureau and constructed at the Progress Factory in Samara, Russia. (These two are now a united company, TsSKB-Progress). The first Soyuz-U flight took place on 18 May 1973, carrying as its payload Kosmos 559, a Zenit military surveillance satellite.[2]
The Soyuz-U vehicle replaced earlier Soyuz launch vehicle variants and the Voskhod rocket, all of which were closely related vehicles derived from the Soviet R-7 ICBM. The Soyuz-U is a unified, single vehicle capable of launching manned and unmanned payloads.
Soyuz-U is still in use today, making several launches a year.
Contents |
[edit] Versions
There are two versions of Soyuz-U in current use, Soyuz-U/Ikar and Soyuz-U/Fregat.
Soyuz-U/Ikar uses Ikar as its 3rd stage, produced by the Progress State Research and Production Rocket Space Center, TsSKB-Progress. Ikar is used to deliver various payloads with masses of 750 kg to 3920 kg to heights 250 km to 1400 km. Ikar's performance is lower than that of Fregat, but it is more precise in maneuvering and it can operate autonomously longer.
Soyuz-U/Fregat uses Fregat as its 3rd stage, developed and produced by Lavochkin Association in Khimki.
An older variant of Soyuz-U, the Soyuz-U2 launcher, had the same hardware as the basic Soyuz-U. Instead of normal kerosene it used a high energy, synthetic kerosene, Syntin, as the first stage fuel. This variant last flew in 1996, after production of Syntin ended.
Soyuz-U was the basic platform for the development of the Soyuz-FG launch vehicle, which uses an all-new first stage.
In the future both Soyuz-U and Soyuz-FG will be replaced by the Soyuz-2 launch vehicle.
[edit] Launches of human spaceflight missions
The first use of a Soyuz-U to launch a human spaceflight mission took place 2 December 1974, when the Soyuz 16 crew was launched in preparation for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP). Soyuz 19, which as part of the ASTP docked with the last Apollo spacecraft ever flown, was also launched by a Soyuz-U rocket.[2]
On 6 July 1976 a Soyuz-U launched Soyuz 21, which took a crew of two to the Salyut 5 space station. Many subsequent space station crews were launched on Soyuz-U launchers. The final human spaceflight mission to utilize the Soyuz-U was Soyuz TM-34, a Soyuz ferry flight to the International Space Station.
[edit] Recent missions
Lately Soyuz-U vehicles have been used by the Russian Federal Space Agency mostly with Progress-M robotic cargo spacecraft to resupply the International Space Station (ISS).
The most recent Soyuz-U mission failed to launch Progress M-12M to the ISS on 24 August 2011.
Its most recent non-Progress launch was on 16 April 2010, when a Soyuz-U was used to carry the Kosmos 2462 spacecraft to orbit. As of August 2011, a total of 745 Soyuz-U launch vehicles were launched[3], with 21 launch failures and 724 successes (2.8% failure rate).[citation needed][4]
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/soyuzu.htm Astronautix.com
- ^ a b c Mark Wade (26 March 2001). "Soyuz 11A511U". Friends and Partners. http://www.friends-partners.org/partners/mwade/lvs/soya511u.htm.
- ^ 'Progress Resupply Craft Lost After Launch', NASA, 8 August 2011.
- ^ http://www.samspace.ru/статистика_п.htm (Russian)
|
|||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
[edit] External links
- (PDF) Soyuz Launch Vehicle Users Manual
- Astronautix.com entry on Soyuz-U / 11A511U
- Astronautix.com entry on Soyuz-U2 / 11A511U2
- Russian Federal Space Agency about Soyuz-U[dead link]
- Russian Federal Space Agency about Soyuz-U/Ikar[dead link]
- Russian Federal Space Agency about Soyuz-U/Fregat[dead link]
- Russian Federal Space Agency about Soyuz-U2
- LV's manufacturer TsSKB-Progress about Soyuz-U (in Russian)
