Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз (Russian and Ukrainian, 'Union').
In the aerospace context, Soyuz is a family of Russian spacecraft and rockets that have been used for a variety of manned and unmanned missions. The Soyuz spacecraft is one of the most well-known and successful spacecraft in history, and it has been used for a wide variety of missions, including crewed missions to the International Space Station (ISS) and unmanned missions to other planets.
Examples of Soyuz spacecraft include:
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Soyuz 7K-OK: This was the first version of the Soyuz spacecraft and was used for the first manned spaceflight in 1961 by Yuri Gagarin.
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Soyuz T: This version of the Soyuz spacecraft was used for a number of manned missions to the Salyut and Mir space stations in the 1970s and 1980s.
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Soyuz TM: This version of the Soyuz spacecraft was used for manned missions to the Mir space station in the 1990s and the International Space Station (ISS) today.
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Soyuz MS: This is the current version of the Soyuz spacecraft and is used for manned missions to the International Space Station (ISS) and for the launch of other payloads.
Soyuz spacecraft are known for their reliability and versatility, and have been used for a wide variety of missions, including manned missions to space stations and unmanned missions to other planets. The Soyuz spacecraft is also used as a lifeboat for the International Space Station (ISS) and it is the only way to transport crew members to and from the ISS since the retirement of NASA's Space Shuttle program in 2011.
In addition to the Soyuz spacecraft, the Soyuz rocket is also well-known and has been used for a wide variety of launches, including the launch of manned and unmanned spacecraft, and as a reliable and cost-effective launch vehicle for commercial and scientific payloads.