Animated 3d model of rocket Soyuz Soyuz (Russian: , meaning 'union', GRAU index 11A511) is a family of expendable launch systems developed by OKB-1 and manufactured by Progress Rocket Space Centre in Samara, Russia. With over 1700 flights since its debut in 1966, the Soyuz is the most frequently used launch vehicle in the world The Vostochny Cosmodrome (Russian: Космодром Восточный Kosmodrom Vostochny Eastern Spaceport) is a Russian spaceport (still partly under construction) on the 51st parallel north in the Amur Oblast, in the Russian Far East. It is intended to reduce Russia's dependency on the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The first launch took place on 28 April 2016 at 02:01 UTC. As of July 2019, five launch attempts have been made with four successes.