Soyuz-U

This article is about the Soyuz-U rocket. For other Soyuz variants, see Soyuz (rocket family).
Soyuz-U

A Soyuz-U on the launchpad in 1975 for the Apollo-Soyuz mission
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
Total launches 785[2][3][4]
Successes 764[5]
Failures 22[2][5]
First flight 18 May 1973[6]
Last flight 1 December 2016 (Progress MS-04)
Notable payloads Soyuz spacecraft
Progress spacecraft
Boosters - Blok-B,V,G,D[7]
No. boosters 4
Length 19.6 m (64 ft)
Diameter 2.68 m (8.8 ft)
Empty mass

Soyuz: 3,800 kg (8,400 lb)

Soyuz/ST: 3,820 kg (8,420 lb)
Gross mass 43,400 kg (95,700 lb)
Engines RD-117
Thrust Sea Level: 838.5 kN (188,500 lbf)
Vacuum: 1,021.3 kN (229,600 lbf)
Specific impulse Sea Level: 262 s (2.57 km/s)
Vacuum: 319 s (3.13 km/s)
Burn time 118 seconds
Fuel LOX/RG-1
First stage - Blok-A[7]
Length 27.10 m (88.9 ft)
Diameter 2.95 m (9.7 ft)
Empty mass

Soyuz: 6,550 kg (14,440 lb)

Soyuz/ST: 6,450 kg (14,220 lb)
Gross mass

Soyuz: 99,500 kg (219,400 lb)

Soyuz/ST: 99,400 kg (219,100 lb)
Engines RD-118
Thrust Sea Level: 792.5 kN (178,200 lbf)
Vacuum: 990.2 kN (222,600 lbf)
Specific impulse Sea Level: 255 s (2.50 km/s)
Vacuum: 319 s (3.13 km/s)
Burn time 290 seconds
Fuel LOX/RG-1
Second stage - Blok-I[7]
Length 6.70 m (22.0 ft)
Diameter 2.66 m (8.7 ft)
Empty mass

Soyuz: 2,410 kg (5,310 lb)

Soyuz/ST: 2,470 kg (5,450 lb)
Gross mass

Soyuz: 25,200 kg (55,600 lb)

Soyuz/ST: 25,300 kg (55,800 lb)
Engines RD-0110
Thrust 297.9 kilonewtons (67,000 lbf)
Specific impulse 325 seconds
Burn time 270 seconds
Fuel LOX/RG-1
Upper stage (optional) - Fregat[8]
Length 1.5 m (4.9 ft)
Diameter 3.35 m (11.0 ft)
Empty mass 930 kg (2,050 lb)
Propellant mass 5,250 kg (11,570 lb)
Engines S5.92
Thrust 19.85 kilonewtons (4,460 lbf)
Specific impulse 333.2 seconds
Burn time 1100 seconds
Fuel N2O4/UDMH
Upper stage (optional) - Ikar[9]
Length 2.56 metres (8 ft 5 in)
Diameter 2.72 metres (8 ft 11 in)
Empty mass 820 kilograms (1,810 lb)
Gross mass 3,164 kilograms (6,975 lb)
Engines 17D61
Thrust 2.94 kilonewtons (660 lbf)
Specific impulse 307 seconds
Fuel N2O4/UDMH

The Soyuz-U launch vehicle is an improved version of the original Soyuz rocket. 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 (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.[6] As of 2016 the rocket is still in service, although production has stopped since April 2015 as part of the transition process to Soyuz-2.[10] The last flight is expected to take place on February 1, 2017, carrying Progress MS-05 to the International Space Station.

Soyuz-U has been in use continuously for 43 years, the longest lifetime of an orbital rocket worldwide. Production of R-7 derived launch vehicles peaked in the late 1970s-early 1980s at 55–60 a year. Soyuz-U holds the world record of highest launch rate in a year in 1979 with 47 flights. Over its operational lifetime, the Soyuz-U variant flew a total of 785 missions, another world record. Soyuz-U has also been one of the most reliabie launchers, with a success rate of 97.2%.

Development

The earlier Soyuz 11A511 was the first attempt at creating a standardized R-7 core in place of the numerous variations that had been used up to 1966. Starting that year, the 11A511 Blok I and strap-on boosters were added to the Voskhod (11A57), Vostok-2 (8A92), and Molniya-M (8K78M) vehicles as well as minor R-7 variants flown once or twice for specialized payloads.

The uprated 11A511U core was introduced to the R-7 family in 1973, yielding the carrier rocket variant named Soyuz-U, although adoption across the board was not complete until 1977 when the existing stock of 11A511-derived boosters was used up.

Versions

Two versions of Soyuz-U were fitted with an additional upper stage:

An older variant of Soyuz-U, the Soyuz-U2 launcher, first flown in 1982, had the same hardware as the basic Soyuz-U. Instead of standard RP-1, it used a high energy, synthetic version, Syntin, as the first stage fuel. This variant, mainly used to transport crew and cargo to the Mir space station, last flew in 1995, after production of Syntin ended due to cost reasons.

Soyuz-U was the basic platform for the development of the Soyuz-FG variant, which used an all-new first stage and took over crew transport to the ISS in 2002. Since 2013, both Soyuz-U and Soyuz-FG are gradually being replaced by the modernized Soyuz-2 launch vehicle.

Human spaceflight

The first use of a Soyuz-U to launch a crewed 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.[6]

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 crewed mission to utilize the Soyuz-U was Soyuz TM-34, a Soyuz ferry flight to the International Space Station.

A spectacular accident occurred on 26 September 1983, when the launcher for the Soyuz T-10a mission was destroyed by fire on the launch pad. The crew was saved by activation of the launch escape system a few seconds before the explosion.

Recent missions

Since the early 2000s, Soyuz-U vehicles have been used by the Russian Federal Space Agency primarily to launch Progress-M robotic cargo spacecraft on resupply missions to the International Space Station (ISS).

Although the Soyuz-U is generally very reliable, occasional failures have happened, such as the October 2002 launch of a Foton satellite which crashed near the pad at Plesetsk after the Blok D strap-on booster suffered an engine malfunction. One person on the ground was killed.

A recent Soyuz-U mission failed to launch Progress M-12M to the ISS on 24 August 2011, when the upper stage experienced a problem and broke up over Siberia. It was the first time a Progress spacecraft had failed to reach orbit. Another cargo ship, Progress MS-04, was lost on December 1, 2016 shortly after launch, likely due to a problem with the third stage of the Soyuz-U.

In April 2015 Soyuz-U was declared obsolete; its production has been stopped, and the rocket was scheduled for retirement after launching the remaining vehicles with Progress cargo ships.[10] The last flight is scheduled for February 2017 with Progress MS-05.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/soyuzu.htm Astronautix.com
  2. 1 2 Krebs, Gunter. "Soyuz-U (11A511U)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2016-04-02.
  3. 1 2 Krebs, Gunter. "Soyuz-U Ikar (11A511U)". Gunter's space page. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  4. 1 2 Krebs, Gunter. "Soyuz-U Fregat (11A511U)". Gunter's space page. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  5. 1 2 In 1983, flight Soyuz T-10a took fire on the launch pad before the end of the countdown, so it is not counted in the list of launches; this is why adding successes and failures yields 786 launches instead of 785.
  6. 1 2 3 Mark Wade (26 March 2001). "Soyuz 11A511U". Friends and Partners.
  7. 1 2 3 "Soyuz-U User's Manual" (PDF). Starsem. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  8. ↑ "Конструкция разгонного блока "Фрегат"". NPO Lavochkin (in Russian). Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  9. ↑ "IKAR Upper Stage". TsSKB-Progress. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  10. 1 2 Nowakowski, Tomasz (30 June 2015). "All eyes on Progress: Russian spacecraft to deliver supplies to ISS". Spaceflight Insider. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
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