Soyuz

Soyuz (Cyrillic: "Союз") is Russian for "Union", and was often used as an abbreviation for the "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" (Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik) during the Communist era.

It is also the name for the Soyuz spacecraft, now the main vehicle used in missions and crew transfers to and from the International Space Station since NASA retired the Space Shuttle Program in 2011.

In English, the term is left untranslated in the names of several Soviet-related concepts. These include:

• Soyuz programme, an originally Soviet (now Russian) human spaceflight programme
  • The Soyuz (spacecraft), used in that program
  • The Soyuz (rocket), which was initially used to launch that spacecraft
    • Its derivatives, the Soyuz (rocket family)
  • The Soyuz Launch Complex in Kourou, French Guiana
• The Soyuz Station, established by members of the Soviet Antarctic Expeditions in Mac. Robertson Land in Antarctica
• The Soyuz (faction) in the Congress of Soviets, 1990–1991

Other uses

• SS Albert Ballin, a 1922 German-built ship recovered and renamed Soyuz by the USSR
• Soyuz (comics), a team of Russian superheroes from DC Comics
• Studio Soyuz, a media company in Russia