Roscosmos in the context of "Ministry of General Machine-Building"

The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), ESA (Europe), JAXA (Japan), and CSA (Canada). As the largest space station ever constructed, it primarily serves as a platform for conducting scientific experiments in microgravity and studying the space environment.

The station is divided into two main sections: the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS), developed by Roscosmos, and the US Orbital Segment (USOS), built by NASA, ESA, JAXA, and CSA. A striking feature of the ISS is the Integrated Truss Structure, which connect the station's vast system of solar panels and radiators to its pressurized modules. These modules support diverse functions, including scientific research, crew habitation, storage, spacecraft control, and airlock operations. The ISS has eight docking and berthing ports for visiting spacecraft. The station orbits the Earth at an average altitude of 400 kilometres (250 miles) and circles the Earth in roughly 93 minutes, completing 15.5 orbits per day.

The Russian Orbital Segment (ROS) is the name given to the components of the International Space Station (ISS) constructed in Russia and operated by the Russian Roscosmos. The ROS handles Guidance, Navigation, and Control for the entire Station.

The Soyuz programme (/ˈsɔɪjuːz/ SOY-yooz, /ˈsɔː-/ SAW-; Russian: Союз [sɐˈjus], meaning "Union") is a human spaceflight programme initiated by the Soviet Union in the early 1960s. The Soyuz spacecraft was originally part of a Moon landing project intended to put a Soviet cosmonaut on the Moon. It was the third Soviet human spaceflight programme after the Vostok (1961–1963) and Voskhod (1964–1965) programmes.

The programme consists of the Soyuz capsule and the Soyuz rocket and is now the responsibility of Roscosmos. After the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011, the Soyuz was the only way for humans to get to the International Space Station (ISS) until 30 May 2020 when Crew Dragon flew to the ISS for the first time with astronauts.

Space tourism is human space travel for recreational purposes. There are several different types of space tourism, including orbital, suborbital and lunar space tourism. Tourists are motivated by the possibility of viewing Earth from space, feeling weightlessness, experiencing extremely high speed and something unusual, and contributing to science.

Space tourism started in April 2001, when American businessman and engineer Dennis Tito became the first ever space tourist to travel to space aboard a Soyuz-TM32 spacecraft. During the period from 2001 to 2009, seven space tourists made eight space flights aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station, brokered by American company Space Adventures in conjunction with Roscosmos and RSC Energia. Iranian-American businesswoman Anousheh Ansari became the first ever female space tourist in September 2006. The publicized price was in the range of US$20–25 million per trip. Some space tourists have signed contracts with third parties to conduct certain research activities while in orbit. By 2007, space tourism was thought to be one of the earliest markets that would emerge for commercial spaceflight.

Government space agencies, established by the governments of countries and regional agencies (groupings of countries) are established as a means for advocating for engaging in activities related to outer space, exploitation of space systems, and/or space exploration. The listings summarize all countries' and regional authorities' space agencies with a comparative summary of demonstrated capabilities.

The objectives include national prestige, exploitation of remote sensing information, communications, education, and economic development. These agencies tend to be civil in nature (vs military) and serve to advance the benefits of exploitation and/or exploration of space. They span the spectrum from old organizations with small budgets to mature national or regional enterprises such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States, the European Space Agency (ESA) which coordinates for more than 20 constituent countries, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities (Roscosmos) of Russia, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), and the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

The Russian Space Forces (Russian: Космические войска России, romanized: Kosmicheskie voyska Rossii, KV) is the space force branch of the Russian Aerospace Forces. It was reestablished following the 1 August 2015 merger between the Russian Air Force and the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces, after the independent arm of service was dissolved in 2011.

Formed on 10 August 1992 alongside the creation of the Russian Armed Forces, the Russian Space Forces was the first independent space force in the world. The organization shared control of the Baikonur Cosmodrome with Roscosmos, the Federal Space Agency. It also operated the Plesetsk and the Svobodny Cosmodromes. However the Russian Space Forces was dissolved in July 1997 and incorporated into the Strategic Missile Forces.

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.

The Soyuz-TMA (Russian: транспортный модифицированный антропометрический, romanized: Transportnyi Modifitsirovannyi Antropometricheskii, lit. 'Transport Modified Anthropometric') was a spacecraft built by Energia and used by Roscosmos for human spaceflight. It is a revision of the Soyuz spacecraft introduced in 2001 and was in use until 2012 after being superseded in 2010 by the Soyuz TMA-M. While it looks identical to the earlier Soyuz-TM on the outside, the spacecraft features several changes to accommodate requirements requested by NASA to better service the International Space Station. The most important difference are the anthropometric changes, primarily in the form of new adjustable crew couches that allowed shorter, taller, lighter and heavier passengers to ride in the spacecraft. The Soyuz also received improved parachute systems and a "glass cockpit," a first for an expendable vehicle.