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After the successful Vostok series of launch vehicles, the Soviet Union began to
design a new type of capsule. The Soyuz capsules were initially intended to
carry the Soviets to the moon. During the 1960’s the space race between the
United States and the Soviet Union was intensifying. The Apollo
craft the U.S. was using were clearly capable of achieving lunar flight. Soyuz
was to be an answer to the U.S. Apollo program.
The first Soyuz launch occurred on April 23, 1967 (Soyuz 1). That flight
ended tragically when the parachute for the capsule failed to open on reentry.
Cosmonaut Komarov plunged to his death becoming the first space fatality. Later
flights were much more successful.
Soyuz 2 was an unmanned craft launched in to orbit for testing and rendezvous
with another flight. In October 1968 Georgi T. Beregovoi rode Soyuz 3 into orbit
and completed a scheduled rendezvous with the unmanned Soyuz 2.
The next major milestone for the Soyuz craft came in January 1969. At that
time Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 docked and the crews transferred from one craft to
another. Several more flights followed, achieving a number of different
objectives.
Soyuz 10 brought another tragedy to the Soviet Space Program. In April 1971
three cosmonauts docked with the Salyut 1 space station and entered the lab on
board the station. On the return to earth, however, the capsule depressurized
and all three cosmonauts died. The Soviet Union did not fly three cosmonauts in
a Soyuz again for nearly nine years.
In July 1975 the Apollo-Soyuz project was the first successful docking of two
spacecraft from different countries. This was a significant breakthrough for the
United States and the Soviet Union from a political and technological
perspective.
After Soyuz 40 the Soviets introduced the new Soyuz T capsule. It too was
designed for two or three person crews. First launched in December 1979, the
Soyuz T missions continued through 1986. There were a total of 15 Soyuz T
missions.
The Soyuz TM craft flew unmanned in May of 1986. After that the Soyuz TM
became the mainstay of the Soviet (now Russian) space program. When the Russians
officially abandoned the Space Shuttle Buran in 1993, the Soyuz TM became the
primary vehicle of the future for Russia.
Soyuz TM craft still ferry crews and supplies to and from the Mir
Space Station. A Soyuz TM capsule is always attached to the Mir in the event
an emergency escape becomes necessary. The remarkable reliability of the Soyuz
TM craft has also made it a key part of the International
Space Station plans. While a seven-person escape vehicle is being developed,
it is not yet ready to be deployed. Until it is ready, a Soyuz TM will serve as
a "lifeboat" for the International Space Station crew in the event of
an emergency.
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