Soyuz-5

Soyuz-5 may refer to:

Soyuz 5

Soyuz 5 (Russian: Союз 5, Union 5) was a Soyuz mission using the Soyuz 7K-OK spacecraft launched by the Soviet Union on 15 January 1969, which docked with Soyuz 4 in orbit. It was the first-ever docking of two manned spacecraft of any nation, and the first-ever transfer of crew from one space vehicle to another of any nation, the only time a transfer was accomplished with a space walk – two months before the US Apollo 9 mission performed the first ever internal crew transfer.

The flight was also memorable for its dramatic re-entry. The craft's service module did not separate, so it entered the atmosphere nose-first, leaving cosmonaut Boris Volynov hanging by his restraining straps. As the craft aerobraked, the atmosphere burned through the module. But the craft righted itself before the escape hatch was burned through. Then, the parachute lines tangled and the landing rockets failed, resulting in a hard landing which broke Volynov's teeth.

Crew

Backup crew

Reserve crew

Mission parameters

Soyuz-5 (rocket)

The Soyuz-5 (Russian: Союз-5) is a launch family Russian rocket proposed by JSC SRC Progress, the manufacturer and custodian of the Soyuz family design. While all previous iterations of the Soyuz family had its roots firmly set on the R-7 ICBM legacy, the Soyuz-5 is a complete new design from the ground up. It is based on a new propellant: LOX and liquid methane, uses a new tank structure, new propulsion, does away with the famous R-7 tulip and has thrust vector control in the main engine rather than using vernier engines. It is also a scalable family with the version that enable it to cover the medium to heavy payload ranges.

The project is considered as fundamental to assure access to space to Russia, since it is transitioning exclusively to the Angara family, and the Soyuz-5 would add redundancy in case of an Angara stand down. The smallest version, the Soyuz-5.1 is a 270 tonnes rocket and is proposed as a replacement of the Soyuz-2 rocket, and has an expected payload to LEO of 9 tonnes. It will use a single RD-0164 on the first stage, and a RD-0169 on the second. The first engineering design is expected to be finalized by 2016, and the first flight expected for 2022. The use of just two stages for the base version, and the simplification of subsystems means a more reliable and cheaper launcher. In fact, the Soyuz-5.1 is expected to be cheaper than the Soyuz-2.