Soyuz spacecraft

Soyuz is a Russian crewed spacecraft family that has carried people to orbit since 1967. Its modular design supports launch, orbital operations, and crew return.

Soyuz orbital module: The forward pressurized module of a Soyuz spacecraft, used for crew activities in orbit and discarded before reentry. It provides living and working space without needing to survive atmospheric reentry.
Sergei Korolev: A Soviet rocket engineer who led the early development of the Soviet space program. Korolev initiated the spacecraft program as part of plans for crewed lunar missions.
Salyut program: The Soviet series of crewed space stations that began with Salyut 1 in 1971. Soyuz spacecraft ferried crews to the Salyut stations.
Apollo command and service module: The crewed spacecraft used by NASA’s Apollo program for lunar missions and Earth return. It pursued crewed lunar flight with a different capsule-and-service-module arrangement.
Soyuz descent module: The compact, heat-shielded Soyuz compartment that carries the crew through atmospheric reentry and landing. Only this module returns to Earth with the crew.
Soviet crewed lunar programs: Soviet programs that sought to send cosmonauts to the Moon during the Cold War. The first Soyuz designs were developed for lunar missions that never flew with crews.
Mir: A Soviet and Russian modular space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001. Soyuz served as Mir’s crew transport and emergency return vehicle.
Space Shuttle: NASA’s reusable winged spacecraft system that carried crews and cargo to orbit from 1981 to 2011. Its runway landings and large payload bay contrasted with Soyuz’s compact capsule and parachute landing.
Soyuz service module: The aft Soyuz module housing propulsion, power, and life-support systems for orbital flight. It supplies systems the descent module cannot carry through reentry.
Soyuz 1: The first crewed Soyuz mission, launched in April 1967 and ending in the death of cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov. Its fatal landing exposed serious design and testing failures early in the program.

Linked from 19 pages