The Soyuz program began in the 1960s and was initially intended to be part of the Soviet Union’s attempt to land cosmonauts on the Moon. It was initiated in the 1960s and became a cornerstone of the Soviet and Russian crewed spaceflight missions. However, after the U.S. achieved the first manned lunar landing in 1969 with Apollo 11, the Soviet focus shifted.
The Soyuz program then became essential for launching crewed missions into Earth’s orbit, focusing on space station operations, particularly with the Salyut and later Mir space stations.
Major Phases of the Soyuz Program
Although the Soviet Union ultimately did not achieve a manned lunar landing, the Soyuz spacecraft evolved into a highly reliable and versatile system used for transporting cosmonauts and cargo to space stations like Salyut, Mir, and later, the International Space Station (ISS).
We can think of the Soyuz program as having three main phases:
- Early Soyuz (1960s–1970s): Focused on testing crewed spaceflight and lunar mission objectives.
- Soyuz-Salyut and Mir Missions (1970s–1990s): Soyuz was adapted to serve the Soviet space stations, including Salyut and Mir, and evolved through several versions (Soyuz-T, Soyuz-TM).
- Soyuz-ISS Missions (2000–Present): The program continues to operate under the Soyuz-MS series, ferrying crew and cargo to the ISS.
List of Soyuz Missions in Order
Due to the large number of missions, I’ll summarize the major Soyuz mission categories, with highlights of specific important or historic flights. You can consult specific mission lists for a comprehensive breakdown.
Soyuz 7K-OK
The Soyuz 1 mission, intended as a milestone for Soviet space exploration, ended in tragedy when cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov 🔗 died during re-entry. After launch, a critical solar panel failure led to power shortages, causing numerous malfunctions.
Despite efforts to bring Komarov back early, the main parachute failed to deploy during descent. The backup chute became tangled, leading to a fatal crash. Komarov’s death was the first in-flight space fatality, prompting a major overhaul of the Soyuz program’s safety measures to prevent similar disasters in future missions.
The Soyuz 4 & Soyuz 5 missions achieved a major milestone in space exploration as the first successful docking of two crewed spacecraft in orbit. Launched in January 1969, Soyuz 4 carried ladimir Shatalov 
, while Soyuz 5 carried Boris Volynov , Aleksei Yeliseyev , and Yevgeny Khrunov .
The two spacecraft successfully docked in orbit, and Yeliseyev and Khrunov transferred between the ships via a spacewalk, marking the first-ever crew transfer in space. This mission tested critical rendezvous and docking procedures that would be necessary for future space station operations.
However, Soyuz 5’s return was perilous: after an improper re-entry, Volynov’s capsule malfunctioned, and he survived a rough landing only due to the integrity of his spacecraft’s cabin. Despite the challenges, the mission is remembered as a landmark achievement in the development of Soviet spaceflight capabilities.
Soyuz 11 was a historic mission as the first to dock with the world’s first space station, Salyut 1. The crew—Georgi Dobrovolski 🔗, Viktor Patsayev 🔗, and Vladislav Volkov 🔗—spent 23 days aboard Salyut 1, conducting various scientific experiments and testing the viability of long-term space habitation.
Despite their success in orbit, tragedy struck during re-entry. After undocking from the station, a valve malfunction caused the cabin to depressurize, leading to the deaths of all three cosmonauts due to exposure to the vacuum of space. The loss of the Soyuz 11 crew prompted significant safety improvements, including the introduction of space suits during re-entry to protect future cosmonauts from similar disasters.
Soyuz 7K-T
The Soyuz 7K-T variant was a crucial workhorse in the Soviet space program during the 1970s and early 1980s. This version of the Soyuz spacecraft was primarily designed to ferry cosmonauts to the Salyut space stations, which were the Soviet Union’s first operational space stations.
It had a simplified design, lacked solar panels, and relied on batteries for shorter missions. Soyuz 7K-T became a reliable vehicle, enabling the Soviet Union to successfully support long-term human space habitation aboard Salyut 1 through Salyut 7, which laid the foundation for later space stations like Mir.
Soyuz 19 is best known for its participation in the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) in 1975, which was a historic moment in the Cold War era. This mission marked the first international crewed space mission, symbolizing a significant thaw in U.S.-Soviet relations during the 1970s. The ASTP was a joint mission between NASA and the Soviet space agency, where an American Apollo spacecraft docked with Soyuz 19 in orbit. The mission’s objectives included testing the compatibility of American and Soviet spacecraft systems and demonstrating the potential for future international cooperation in space.
Cosmonauts Alexei Leonov 🔗 and Valeri Kubasov 🔗 were aboard Soyuz 19, while Thomas Stafford 🔗, Vance Brand 🔗, and Deke Slayton 🔗 flew on Apollo. The two crews exchanged gifts and performed joint scientific experiments, symbolizing a new era of space collaboration. This mission helped lay the groundwork for future partnerships, including the International Space Station (ISS), where Russian and American cooperation continues to this day.
Soyuz-T
The Soyuz-T series was an important evolution in the Soyuz spacecraft design, specifically adapted to support the Soviet Union’s space station programs in the late 1970s and 1980s. These missions played a critical role in ferrying cosmonauts and supplies to the Salyut space stations, which were the Soviet Union’s first generation of space stations. The Soyuz-T variant introduced significant upgrades, including more reliable electronics, a new docking system, and improved life-support systems to allow for longer-duration missions.
This series also laid the foundation for future missions to the Mir space station, which became the world’s first modular space station. The Soyuz-T missions helped the Soviet Union test long-term human space habitation and space station maintenance techniques, which would be crucial for the Mir program and later for Russian involvement in the International Space Station (ISS).
The Soyuz T-10-1 mission, launched in 1983, is remembered not for its success in space but for the dramatic rescue of its crew after a near-catastrophic failure. During the countdown for launch, the rocket ignited on the launch pad, engulfing the booster in flames. The crew, consisting of Vladimir Titov 🔗 and Gennady Strekalov 🔗, were moments away from disaster. In a harrowing escape, the launch escape system activated just seconds before the rocket exploded, pulling the crew capsule away from the inferno. The system functioned perfectly, ejecting the cosmonauts to safety at a high altitude, and the capsule parachuted back to Earth, allowing both cosmonauts to survive unharmed. This incident is often cited as one of the most remarkable uses of a launch escape system, demonstrating the life-saving importance of these safety protocols during spaceflight.
Soyuz-TM
The Soyuz-TM spacecraft, introduced in 1986, became a cornerstone for the Mir space station program, significantly contributing to both Soviet and Russian long-term space missions. Designed as an upgraded version of the earlier Soyuz-T models, Soyuz-TM was specifically tailored to dock with Mir, which was the first modular space station, designed for extended crewed missions and scientific research in space. The spacecraft played a crucial role in supporting the operations and maintenance of the Mir space station over its many years in orbit.
- Soyuz TM-19: Conducted missions to Mir.
Soyuz-TMA
Soyuz TMA-6 was one of the missions that supported ISS operations and included international astronauts from the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA.
The Soyuz TMA-6 mission is remembered for advancing long-duration spaceflight research and international collaboration aboard the ISS. It contributed to critical scientific knowledge that would help future long-term missions, particularly in the preparation for future human missions to the Moon and Mars.
This mission also reaffirmed the reliability and importance of the Soyuz spacecraft as a transportation vehicle for astronauts and cosmonauts to the ISS, a role it continues to play today.
Soyuz-MS
The Soyuz-MS series is the latest and most advanced version of the Soyuz spacecraft, which has been the workhorse of Russian and international space programs for decades. Introduced in 2016, the Soyuz-MS spacecraft was designed to enhance the safety, reliability, and efficiency of crewed space missions, particularly for ferrying astronauts and cosmonauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS).
The Soyuz-MS series has been instrumental in maintaining the crew rotation for the ISS. It is regularly used for missions that transport international crews, ensuring that astronauts from agencies like NASA, ESA, and Roscosmos have safe and reliable transportation to and from the space station.
Since its first mission in July 2016 (with Soyuz MS-01), the series has been a consistent and reliable part of ISS operations. Soyuz-MS is particularly important because it has acted as the primary crew transport vehicle during times when the United States lacked a domestic crewed space vehicle, such as the gap between the Space Shuttle’s retirement in 2011 and the launch of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon in 2020.
- Soyuz MS-10: Infamous for its emergency abort shortly after launch, saving the crew via the escape system. The cosmonauts safely returned to Earth, marking a major milestone in space safety.
- Soyuz MS-17: Launched in 2020, marking one of the fastest crewed flights to the ISS, reaching the space station in just over three hours.
