The Soyuz rocket family started as a Soviet missile design in the 1950s, but it has evolved into the most-flown rocket in history. Versions of the rocket have launched more than 1,700 times since 1966, with an astonishing track record of reliability. The original design was the work of Sergei Korolev, the secretive Soviet chief rocket designer.
Soyuz rockets carry the Soyuz crew capsule of the same name. After NASA retired the Space Shuttle in 2011, the Soyuz became the only ride to the International Space Station for nearly a decade. American, European, Japanese, and Canadian astronauts all flew up on Russian rockets from a remote desert launch site in Kazakhstan.
The design hasn’t changed dramatically in 60 years. The basic rocket still uses four strap-on boosters arranged around a central core, all firing at liftoff. Modern versions have updated electronics and bigger upper stages, but if you saw a 1960s launch photo next to a recent one, you’d struggle to tell them apart at first glance.
