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The Soyuz-U launch vehicle (LV) is an improved version of the original Soyuz LV. Soyuz-U is part of the R-7 family of rockets based on the R-7 Semyorka missile. Members of this rocket family were designed by the TsSKB design bureau and constructed at the Progress Factory in Samara, Russia. (These two are now a united company, TsSKB-Progress). The first Soyuz-U flight took place on 18 May 1973, carrying as its payload Kosmos 559, a Zenit military surveillance satellite.〔 The earlier Soyuz 11A511 was the first attempt at creating a standardized R-7 core in place of the numerous variations that had been used up to 1966 and starting that year, the 11A511 Blok I and strap-on boosters were added to the Voskhod (11A57), Vostok-2 (8A92), and Molniya-M (8K78M) vehicles as well as minor R-7 variants flown once or twice for specialized payloads. Beginning in 1973, the uprated 11A511U core was introduced for the R-7 family although adoption across the board was not complete until 1977 when the existing stock of 11A511-derived boosters was used up. Soyuz-U is still in use today, making several launches a year. Production of R-7 derived launch vehicles peaked in the late 1970s-early 1980 at 55-60 a year. Soyuz-U holds the world record of highest launch rate in a year in 1979 with 47 flights. == Versions == There are two versions of Soyuz-U with upper stages that has flown, Soyuz-U/Ikar and Soyuz-U/Fregat. Soyuz-U/Ikar uses Ikar as its 3rd stage, produced by the Progress State Research and Production Rocket Space Center, TsSKB-Progress. Ikar is used to deliver various payloads with masses of 750 kg to 3920 kg to heights 250 km to 1400 km. The performance of the Ikar upper stage is lower than that of the Fregat upper stage, but it is more precise in maneuvering and it can operate autonomously longer. Soyuz-U/Fregat uses Fregat as its 3rd stage, developed and produced by Lavochkin Association in Khimki. An older variant of Soyuz-U, the Soyuz-U2 launcher, had the same hardware as the basic Soyuz-U. Instead of standard RP-1, it used a high energy, synthetic version, Syntin, as the first stage fuel. This variant, mainly used for reconnaissance satellites, last flew in 1996, after production of Syntin ended due to cost reasons. Soyuz-U was the basic platform for the development of the Soyuz-FG launch vehicle, which uses an all-new first stage. In the future both Soyuz-U and Soyuz-FG will be replaced by the Soyuz-2 launch vehicle. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Soyuz-U」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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