Progress (spacecraft) in the context of "Salyut 7"

Soyuz (Russian: Союз, IPA: [sɐˈjus], lit. 'Union') is a series of spacecraft which has been in service since the 1960s, having made more than 140 flights. It was designed for the Soviet space program by the Korolev Design Bureau (now Energia). The Soyuz succeeded the Voskhod spacecraft and was originally built as part of the Soviet crewed lunar programs. It is launched atop the similarly named Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Following the Soviet Union's dissolution, Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, continued to develop and utilize the Soyuz. Between the Space Shuttle's 2011 retirement and the SpaceX Crew Dragon's 2020 debut, Soyuz was the sole means of crewed transportation to and from the International Space Station, a role it continues to fulfill. The Soyuz design has also influenced other spacecraft, including China's Shenzhou and Russia's Progress cargo vehicle.

Pirs (Russian: Пирс, meaning "pier") – also called Stykovochny Otsek 1 (SO-1; Russian: Стыковочный отсек, "docking module") and DC-1 (Docking Compartment 1) – was a Russian module on the International Space Station (ISS). Pirs was launched on 14 September 2001, and was located on the Zvezda module of the station. It provided the ISS with one docking port for Soyuz and Progress spacecraft, and allowed egress and ingress for spacewalks by cosmonauts using Russian Orlan space suits. Pirs was docked to Zvezda for almost 20 years, until 26 July 2021, when it was decommissioned and undocked by Progress MS-16 to make way for the new Nauka module.

Progress M-12M (Russian: Прогресс М-12М), identified by NASA as Progress 44P, was an uncrewed Progress spacecraft that was lost in a launch failure on 24 August 2011, at the start of a mission to resupply the International Space Station. It was the twelfth modernised Progress-M spacecraft to be launched. Manufactured by RKK Energia, the spacecraft was to have been operated by the Russian Federal Space Agency.

The Soyuz-FG was an improved variant of the Soyuz-U launch vehicle from the R-7 rocket family, developed by the Progress Rocket Space Centre in Samara, Russia. It featured upgraded first and second stage engines, RD-107A and RD-108A, respectively, with enhanced injector heads that improved combustion efficiency and specific impulse. The designation "FG" refers to forsunochnaya golovka (injector head) in Russian.

Soyuz-FG made its maiden flight on 20 May 2001, delivering a Progress cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). It became the primary vehicle for launching crewed Soyuz TMA, Soyuz TMA-M, and Soyuz MS spacecraft from 2002 until its retirement in 2019.

The Automated Transfer Vehicle, originally Ariane Transfer Vehicle or ATV, was an expendable cargo spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency (ESA), used for space cargo transport in 2008–2015. The ATV design was launched to orbit five times, exclusively by the Ariane 5 heavy-lift launch vehicle. It effectively was a larger European counterpart to the Russian Progress cargo spacecraft for carrying upmass to a single destination—the International Space Station (ISS)—but with three times the capacity.

Soyuz (Russian: Союз, lit. 'union', as in Soviet Union, GRAU index: 11A511) is a family of Soviet and later Russian expendable, medium-lift launch vehicles initially developed by the OKB-1 design bureau and has been manufactured by the Progress Rocket Space Centre in Samara, Russia. The Soyuz family holds the record for the most launches in the history of spaceflight. All Soyuz rockets are part of the R-7 rocket family, which evolved from the R-7 Semyorka, the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile.

As with several Soviet launch vehicles, the names of recurring payloads became closely associated with the rocket itself. The Soyuz rocket became widely recognized as the launcher of crewed Soyuz spacecraft under the Soyuz programme, and of the derivative uncrewed Progress cargo spacecraft. Despite this recognition, the majority of Soyuz launches have been dedicated to deploying satellites for both governmental and commercial purposes.

S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation "Energia" (Russian: Ракетно-космическая корпорация «Энергия» им. С. П. Королёва, romanized: Raketno-kosmicheskaya korporatsiya «Energiya» imeni S. P. Korolyova), commonly known as RSC Energia, is a Russian aerospace manufacturer and spacecraft design bureau. Headquartered in Korolyov, Moscow Oblast, the company is the principal contractor for Russia's human spaceflight program, producing crewed and cargo spacecraft, space station modules, and satellite platforms.

Founded in 1946 as OKB-1 under Sergei Korolev, the group was responsible for pioneering achievements in the Soviet and Russian space programs, including the launch of the first artificial satellite Sputnik 1 and the first human spaceflight, Vostok 1. Over subsequent decades it developed the Soyuz spacecraft, the Progress cargo vehicle, the Energia heavy-lift launch system, and modules for the Salyut, Mir, and the International Space Station (ISS).