Soyuz t launcher
Soyuz is a series of spacecraft designed for the Soviet space programme by the Korolyov Design Bureau (now RKK Energia) in the 1960s that remains in service today. The Soyuz TMA-08M set a new record for the fastest manned docking into space station, event utilized the new 6-hour fast rendezvous instead of the previous Soyuz launches which had, since 1986, taken two days. This new version debuted on 7 October 2010 with the launch of TMA-01M, carrying the ISS Expedition 25 crew.
#Soyuz t launcher upgrade#
The Soyuz TMA-M is an upgrade of the baseline Soyuz-TMA, using a new computer, digital interior displays, updated docking equipment and vehicle’s total mass has been reduced by 70 kilograms. The EP-4 crew was Vladimir Dzhanibekov, Svetlana Savitskaya, and Igor Volk. It transported two cosmonauts of EP-4 to Salyut 7. Soyuz T-15 was a Soyuz spacecraft which launched on 17 July 1984 17:40 UTC. On board the rocket were the first two fully functional satellites of the future European satellite navigation system Galileo.Capability: Manned and Cargo ISS Logistics The first take-off of a Soyuz ST launcher from the European spaceport in French Guyana took place on October 21, 2011. Work to build and qualify the launch facilities on the Kourou premises was concluded in the summer of 2011. The foundation stone of the launch pad was officially laid on February 26, 2007. Germany took part in the programme together with France, Italy, Spain, Belgium and Switzerland. The 'Soyuz at Kourou' programme was adopted by the European research ministers at the May 2003 conference of the ESA Ministerial Council and formally signed on February 4, 2004. Among other things, it was agreed that Europe’s launch facilities in Kourou should be opened to Russian Soyuz ST launchers, and that the system should be marketed by Arianespace. In June 2002, ESA's member states adopted a resolution to step up their collaboration with Russia in the field of launcher systems. Moreover, Kourou's geographical position close to the equator is more suitable for launching rockets than that of Baikonur, which is further north: benefiting from the faster rotation of the Earth, launcher systems need less fuel, or are able to carry heavier loads with the same amount of fuel. This is why the option of launching Soyuz from Kourou was considered early on. However, the only spaceport available at the time was that of Baikonur in Kazakhstan.Ĭonsequently, marketing was subject to some restrictions both technical and political in nature. Soyuz became available to western customers as early as the mid-nineties under a Russian-European joint venture called Starsem. It has been in use since the fifties of the last century, and it is the world's most frequently employed launcher. The Russian Soyuz launcher system is judged to be extremely reliable. The launcher is equally suitable for carrying satellite constellations and transporting navigation or Earth-observation satellites. This puts Soyuz ST into a position between the heavy-lift rocket Ariane 5 (around ten tons) and the light VEGA rocket (up to 2.5 tons). Thus, for example, the rocket is capable of carrying around five tons into a near-Earth orbit, three tons into a geostationary transfer orbit, or 1.5 tons into a geostationary orbit. This enables Soyuz ST to carry out even complex missions to different target orbits. Soyuz ST consists of three stages running on liquid fuel and a Fregat upper stage that may be fired up to six times. Rearing up around 46 metres and weighing more than 300 tons, the rocket is capable of carrying up to six payloads per launch into orbit. Before its deployment there, the long-serving ‘Grande Dame’ of Russian space flight went in for a facelift: Soyuz ST, which is resistant to tropical conditions, is the most modern and powerful version of the Soyuz 2 rocket. In October 2011 Soyuz launchers developed in Russia joined the launch programme of the European Space Centre at Kourou in French Guiana.