• The first manned Soyuz mission launched in 1967. Everything went great with the mission, until it was time for it to return home. The craft crashed upon reentry, killing cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov in the process.
• Suffering only two fatal incidents in 4+ decades of use, the Soyuz is considered to be the safest spacecraft in existence.
• The Soyuz only houses three people which is extremely small by today’s standards. By comparison, the Discovery shuttle is has a much larger cockpit/habitation space and housed crews of up to eight people in the past. Gizmodo guest blogger and NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao detailed what it was like to fly in one, and apparently it’s cramped. Real cramped.
• Leroy also says the engines are so smooth, you can barely tell it’s lifted off when you’re riding inside.
• Despite the fact that Soyuz crafts can’t be reused, they’re considered extremely cost effective (for a spacecraft)
• Once the Soyuz is up in orbit, it takes two whole days for it to catch up to the ISS. It only takes 3.5 hours for it to return to Earth.
• Since 2003, the Soyuz has served as the official emergency escape craft of the ISS, docked to the station at all times.
• If docked, the Soyuz can remain in space up to 200 days. It can orbit the earth for over four days.
[AP, MSNBC, NASA, Russian Space Web]
Photo Credit: Wikimedia
Amit
Wednesday, December 15, 2010 at 9:19 AMI’m kinda wondering if they are so cost-effective why isn’t the US asking US-private manufacturers to look into it. They already have a lot of rockets which can be modified for launch purposes. Also, since we are back to the days of space-capsules which can be big business to support other emerging space exploring countries like India, Japan, etc.
James Oberg
Thursday, December 16, 2010 at 3:28 AMAmit, that’s a good point, and the just-flown ‘Dragon’ commercial space capsule is exactly that — a cheaper US-built vehicle with Soyuz-like [or better] capabilities. It and other such private spaceships will be taking over US crew transport to orbit in several years, and the Russians recognize that this is a commercial challenge.
olearymo
Wednesday, December 15, 2010 at 9:25 AMhang on, not reusable? So every Soyuz is a new one? I did not know that.
James Mac
Wednesday, December 15, 2010 at 11:53 AMDoesn’t the ISS hold a crew of up to 8?
How is a 3 man ship suitable as the life boat?
Daniel
Wednesday, December 15, 2010 at 2:07 PMBecause when there are more than three on board, there is always a space shuttle docked too.
James Oberg
Thursday, December 16, 2010 at 3:25 AMActually, Daniel, there are four docking ports for Soyuz-class vehicles (including ‘Progress’ supply drones) at the Russian end of the station, and when there are six permanent crewmembers on board there are TWO Soyuzes docked. This has been the done on Salyut, Mir, and now ISS for more than thirty years. And you’re right — when the shuttle is docked, adding six or seven more people for a week or so, they have the shuttle as their escape vehicle too. It’s an amazing outpost in orbit and has made yesterday’s incredible dreams into today’s almost-boring normalcy.
alan
Wednesday, December 15, 2010 at 2:28 PMDiscovery is the name of a single Space Shuttle. The Space Shuttle Program or Space Transportation System (STS) is the name of the entire program that’s coming to a close.