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Soyuz is a family of expendable Russian and Soviet carrier rockets developed by OKB-1 and manufactured by Progress Rocket Space Centre in Samara, Russia. With over 2,000 flights since its debut in 1966, the Soyuz is the rocket with the most launches in the history of spaceflight.
The R-7 Semyorka, officially the GRAU index 8K71, was a Soviet missile developed during the Cold War, and the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile. The R-7 made 28 launches between 1957 and 1961. A derivative, the R-7A, was operational from 1960 to 1968. To the West it was unknown until its launch. In modified form, it launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, into orbit, and became the basis for the R-7 family which includes Sputnik, Luna, Molniya, Vostok, and Voskhod space launchers, as well as later Soyuz variants. Various modifications are still in use and it has become the world’s most reliable space launcher.
Plesetsk Cosmodrome is a Russian spaceport located in Mirny, Arkhangelsk Oblast, about 800 km north of Moscow and approximately 200 km south of Arkhangelsk. Originally developed as an ICBM site for the R-7 missile, it also served for numerous satellite launches using the R-7 and other rockets. Its high latitude makes it useful only for certain types of launches, especially the Molniya orbits, so for much of the site's history it functioned as a secondary location, with most orbital launches taking place from Baikonur, in the Kazakh SSR. With the end of the Soviet Union, Baikonur became a foreign territory, and Kazakhstan charged $115 million usage fees annually. Consequently, Plesetsk has seen considerably more activity since the 2000s.
The Meteor spacecraft are weather observation satellites launched by the Soviet Union and Russia. The Meteor satellite series was initially developed during the 1960s. The Meteor satellites were designed to monitor atmospheric and sea-surface temperatures, humidity, radiation, sea ice conditions, snow-cover, and clouds. Between 1964 and 1969, a total of eleven Soviet Union Meteor satellites were launched.
This article outlines notable events occurring in 2006 in spaceflight, including major launches and EVAs. 2006 saw Brazil, Iran, and Sweden all get a national into space for the first time.
This article outlines notable events occurring in 2005 in spaceflight, including major launches and EVAs. 2005 saw Iran launch its first satellite.
This article outlines notable events occurring in 2004 in spaceflight, including major launches and EVAs.
Soyuz-2 is a modernised version of the Soviet Soyuz rocket. In its basic form, it is a three-stage launch vehicle for placing payloads into low Earth orbit. Compared to the previous versions of the Soyuz, the first-stage boosters and two core stages feature uprated engines with improved injection systems. Digital flight control and telemetry systems allow the rocket to be launched from a fixed launch platform, whereas the launch platforms for earlier Soyuz rockets had to be rotated as the rocket could not perform a roll to change its heading in flight.
The R-7 family of rockets is a series of rockets, derived from the Soviet R-7 Semyorka, the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). More R-7 rockets have been launched than any other family of large rockets.
GLONASS-K is the latest satellite design intended as a part of the Russian GLONASS radio-based satellite navigation system. Developed by ISS Reshetnev and first launched on 26 February 2011, it is a substantial improvement of the previous GLONASS-M second-generation satellites, having a longer lifespan and better accuracy.
The year 2011 saw a number of significant events in spaceflight, including the retirement of NASA's Space Shuttle after its final flight in July 2011, and the launch of China's first space station module, Tiangong-1, in September. A total of 84 orbital launches were conducted over the course of the year, of which 78 were successful. Russia, China and the United States conducted the majority of the year's orbital launches, with 35, 19 and 18 launches respectively; 2011 marked the first year that China conducted more successful launches than the United States. Seven crewed missions were launched into orbit during 2011, carrying a total of 28 astronauts to the International Space Station. Additionally, the Zenit-3F and Long March 2F/G carrier rockets made their maiden flights in 2011, while the Delta II Heavy made its last.
The Ensemble de Lancement Soyouz (ELS) is a launch complex at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou/Sinnamary, French Guiana. It was used by Soyuz-ST rockets: modified versions of the Soyuz-2 optimised for launch from Kourou under Soyuz at the Guiana Space Centre programme.
The Vostok-2, GRAU index 8A92 was an expendable carrier rocket used by the Soviet Union between 1962 and 1967. Forty five were launched, of which five failed. It was derived from the earlier Vostok-K, with uprated engines. It was a member of the Vostok family of rockets.
The Vostok-2M, GRAU index 8A92M was an expendable carrier rocket used by the Soviet Union between 1964 and 1991. Ninety-three were launched, of which one failed. Another was destroyed before launch. It was originally built as a specialised version of the earlier Vostok-2, for injecting lighter payloads into higher Sun-synchronous orbits. It was a member of the R-7 family of rockets, and the last Vostok.
Meridian 2, also known as Meridian No.12L, was a Russian communications satellite. It was the second satellite of the Meridian system, which replaced the older Molniya series. It followed on from Meridian 1, which was launched in December 2006.
In 2014, the maiden flight of the Angara A5, Antares 120 and Antares 130 took place.
In 2013, the maiden spaceflight of the Orbital Sciences' Antares launch vehicle, designated A-ONE, took place on 13 April. Orbital Science also launched its first spacecraft, Cygnus, that docked with the International Space Station in late September 2013.
This article documents notable spaceflight events during the year 2019.
Soyuz at the Guiana Space Centre was a European Space Agency (ESA) programme for operating Soyuz-ST launch vehicles from Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG), providing medium-size launch capability for Arianespace to complement the light Vega and heavy-lift Ariane 5. The Soyuz vehicle was supplied by the Roscosmos with TsSKB-Progress and NPO Lavochkin, while additional components were supplied by Airbus, Thales Group and RUAG. Autor LV (ICBM) = NPO "Energia", Kaliningrad.
References
- ↑ Zak, Anatoly (10 October 2022). "Fifth GLONASS-K satellite lifts off". RussianSpaceWeb. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
- McDowell, Jonathan. "Launch List - R-7 Family". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved 2015-02-20.
- Wade, Mark. "Soyuz". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 2010-01-07. Retrieved 2015-02-20.
