

Soyuz User Manual - samlittlewood
http://www.arianespace.com/launch-services-soyuz/Soyuz_Users_Manual_CSG_June06.pdf

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russss
To elaborate, this manual refers to the Soyuz _rocket_ , not the spacecraft
which is flown to the ISS. Specifically, it's the interface documentation for
attaching your payload to it. (The Russians/Soviets have a long history of
naming their rockets and spacecraft identically.)

The ESA are collaborating with the Russians to build a Soyuz launch site at
Kourou in Guiana. It's pretty much a complete clone of the site at Baikonur:

[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SBynwXjyxKI/TZiECQqNtGI/AAAAAAAACS...](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SBynwXjyxKI/TZiECQqNtGI/AAAAAAAACSo/QRr2B4CxUdw/s1600/SoyuzESA.jpg)

This gives commercial customers an increase in payload capacity compared to
launching from Baikonur because Kourou is nearer the equator (especially
relevant for geosynchronous orbits). Plus you get the legendary Soyuz
reliability.

I believe they're planning on the first launch from Kourou before the end of
2011.

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arethuza
It has some great historical details of the Soyuz launcher at the end:

"Vehicles in this family have followed a conservative evolutionary path of
development, and have been in continuous and uninterrupted production and
flight for more than 45 years."

~~~
Typhon
It's more or less the same technology since 1957. It's the most reliable
rocket in the world.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-7_%28rocket_family%29>

------
mckoss
The chart on page 3-2 gives you a good idea of the G forces you'd experience
on a launch. Imagine the feeling of instantly taking away 3.5 Gs as each stage
blows away. Also notice how the Gs increase as the mass of fuel volume is
reduced during stage firing.

