Question by gapper: what is the name of the Russian rocket that carries supplies to the space station?
I’ve never seen pictures or information about the Russian space program, that seems to be more durable than the American led program.
Answers and Views:
Answer by J A
Soyuz … durable perhaps, but they haven’t matched American’s innovation.
What do you think? Answer below!
wilde_space says
Soyuz rocket is used for the launch. Soyuz means "unity" in Russian. The actual spacecraft used to deliver the supplies are the Soyuz spacecraft (manned) and the Progress spacecraft (unmanned).
Lawn Gnome says
Use to be the MIR, now they use the Proton Rockets.
Captain of Science says
In English, it is "Progress." The Russian program is a sham. If it weren't for the fact that we needed to keep up the appearance of the "International" part of the Space Station, we'd be sending up our own supplies, as currently, other than the odd cosmonaut, this is the only and occasional Russian contribution aside from the Zvezda Service Module that they stuck on so that they could use their cargo barrels.
The Progress Cargo vehicles are only derivations of the ancient plan-form Soyuz vehicles and rockets. The Russians call them "manned" vehicles because when they dock with the ISS, people can go inside. But that's clearly just something of a technicality. No one but them considers it manned, and you can look that up all over the place.
The fact that the Russians are begging NASA to keep the Shuttles in service for at least 5 more years should speak better to the durability and robustness of the US Space Program.