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📊 Analysis

Statistics & insights on rockets and organizations — technology, history, numbers.

Soyuz U

Retired

Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS)

Key figures

Total launches
714
Successes
694
Failures
20
Success rate
97.2 %
Success streak
1
Maiden flight
May 18, 1973
Reusable
No
Shortest launch interval ⓘ
1h 10min
Planned launches
0
Soyuz family total
833 launches · 809 successes · 24 failures (6 variants)

🧐 Data check

Automatic plausibility checks — anomalies are surfaced transparently here:

  • ℹ️The figures above apply only to the “Soyuz U” variant. The Launch Library counts each variant separately — the Soyuz family totals 833 launches across 6 variants.

Technology

Length
51.1 m
Diameter
2.95 m
Launch mass
313 t
Stages
2–3
LEO (low Earth orbit)
6,900 kg

Engines & propellant

Boosters4× RD-107AKerosin / Flüssigsauerstoff
1st stage1× RD-108A (Zentralblock)Kerosin / Flüssigsauerstoff
2nd stageRD-0110 / RD-0124Kerosin / Flüssigsauerstoff
Kick stageFregat (optional)UDMH / Stickstofftetroxid

Engine and propellant data from curated sources: Wikipedia — Sojus (Rakete)

Launches per year

of which in our database: 714

1978: 45 Successes4519781979: 45 Successes1979: 2 Failures471980: 45 Successes451981: 41 Successes1981: 1 Failures4219811982: 42 Successes1982: 2 Failures441983: 41 Successes1983: 1 Failures421984: 38 Successes3819841985: 37 Successes371986: 32 Successes1986: 1 Failures331987: 33 Successes1987: 1 Failures3419871988: 31 Successes1988: 3 Failures341989: 27 Successes271990: 16 Successes1990: 2 Failures1819901991: 9 Successes91992: 12 Successes121993: 7 Successes719931994: 8 Successes81995: 8 Successes81996: 6 Successes1996: 1 Failures719961997: 9 Successes91998: 5 Successes51999: 3 Successes319992000: 7 Successes72001: 6 Successes62002: 3 Successes320022003: 3 Successes32004: 4 Successes42005: 4 Successes420052006: 3 Successes32007: 4 Successes42008: 4 Successes420082009: 5 Successes52010: 6 Successes62011: 5 Successes2011: 1 Failures620112012: 5 Successes52013: 4 Successes42014: 4 Successes420142015: 3 Successes32016: 1 Successes2016: 1 Failures22017: 1 Successes12017
Successes Failures Other/planned

History & events

  1. May 18, 1973🚀 Maiden flightZenit-4MK 13View launch →
  2. Mar 26, 1986💥 FailureZenit-8 29View launch →
  3. Jun 18, 1987💥 FailureResurs-F1 17F40 105L 5View launch →
  4. Jul 9, 1988💥 FailureYantar-4KS1 10View launch →
  5. Jul 27, 1988💥 FailureResurs-F1 17F43 30L 3View launch →
  6. Nov 11, 1988💥 FailureYantar-4KS1 11View launch →
  7. Apr 3, 1990💥 FailureYantar-4K2 51View launch →
  8. Jul 3, 1990💥 FailureYantar-4K2 53View launch →
  9. May 14, 1996💥 FailureYantar-1KFT 18View launch →
  10. Feb 20, 1999👨‍🚀 Crewed flightSoyuz TM-29View launch →
  11. Apr 4, 2000👨‍🚀 Crewed flightSoyuz TM-30View launch →
  12. Oct 31, 2000👨‍🚀 Crewed flightSoyuz TM-31View launch →
  13. Apr 28, 2001👨‍🚀 Crewed flightSoyuz TM-32View launch →
  14. Oct 21, 2001👨‍🚀 Crewed flightSoyuz TM-33View launch →
  15. Apr 25, 2002👨‍🚀 Crewed flightSoyuz TM-34View launch →
  16. Aug 24, 2011💥 FailureProgress M-12M (44P)View launch →▶ Video
  17. Dec 1, 2016💥 FailureProgress MS-04 (65P)View launch →▶ Video

Sources