Soyuz (rocket family) followed by Soyuz-2
Soyuz-2 and Guiana spaceport
The venerable Soyuz launcher was gradually replaced by a new version, named Soyuz-2 or Soyuz/ST, which has a new digital guidance system and a highly modified third stage with a new engine. The first development version of Soyuz-2 called Soyuz-2-1a, which is equipped with the digital guidance system, but is still propelled by an old third stage engine, started on 4 November 2004 from Plesetsk on a suborbital test flight, followed by an orbital flight on 23 October 2006 from Baikonur. The fully modified launcher (version Soyuz-2-1b) flew first on 27 December 2006 with the CoRoT satellite from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
On 19 January 2005, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Roscosmos agreed to launch Soyuz/ST rockets from the Guiana Space Centre. The equatorial launch site allows the Soyuz to deliver 2.7 to 4.9 tonnes into sun-synchronous orbit, depending on the third-stage engine used. Construction of a new pad started in 2005 and was completed in April 2011. The pad used vertical loading common at French Guiana, unlike the horizontal loading used at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. A simulated launch was conducted in early May 2011. The first operational launch happened on 21 October 2011, bearing the first two satellites in Galileo global positioning system.
The Soyuz-U and Soyuz-FG rockets are gradually being replaced by Soyuz-2 from 2014 onwards. Soyuz-U was retired in 2017, while Soyuz-FG carried astronaut crews to the ISS until September 2019 (final flight Soyuz MS-15 25 September 2019).