Soyuz (cohete) version
Soyuz (cohete) Soyuz (11A511)
The original Soyuz, the first attempt to standardise the R-7 family and end the proliferation of variants. Three stages, 50.7 m tall, 308,000 kg at lift-off and 6,450 kg to low Earth orbit. It flew from 1966 and launched the first crewed Soyuz spacecraft.
- November 28, 1966
- First launch
- 6,450 kg
- LEO capacity
- No
- Reusable
History
Bringing order to the family
The Soyuz 11A511 first flew on 28 November 1966 with Kosmos 133. It derived from the Vostok launcher — and that from the R-7 missile — and was essentially identical to the Molniya booster but without the fourth stage. Its purpose was to end the tangle of R-7 variants the Soviet Union was operating. Its first four test flights all failed.
The abort system
The 11A511 carried the AVD malfunction detection system, a standard fitting on every later Soviet and Russian launcher, able to command an automatic engine shutdown and fire the escape tower. Its best-known intervention was the aborted Soyuz 18-1 launch in 1975, the type's final crewed flight, which happened shortly before the Apollo–Soyuz mission.
Record
The vehicle sheet counts 32 launches with 30 successes and two failures (Soyuz 7K-OK No.1 and Soyuz 18a), the last on 14 October 1976 with Soyuz 23. It was replaced by the Soyuz-U, which finally unified production.