A Soyuz rocket is erected on its launchpad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in 2012. The Central Specialized Design Bureau and the TsSKB-Progress company were both responsible for the development and production of the Soyuz system.
A Soyuz booster rocket launches from a Soviet Cosmodrome in 1975. Based off the late 1950's R7 series of intercontinental ballistic missile, the Soyuz booster rocket was used to launch Soviet and Russian spacecraft into orbit.
A map of the different Soviet administrative divisions as they existed in 1989, just before the fall of the Berlin Wall and two years prior to the Soviet Union's dissolution in December of 1991.
Norm Rice was the mayor of Seattle at the time of Space Flight 500's launch. In a letter to Russian President Boris Yeltsin, Rice mentioned the historical ties between Seattle and the people of Russia, such as actions of citizen diplomacy and the…
An image of Boris Yeltsin, the first President of Russia, in 1993. Yeltsin was president during the planning and launch of Europe America Space Flight 500, as well as during the periods of Russian economic instability post-1991.
This image is of a Soviet R-7 Semyorka Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. Developed in the late 1950s, the R-7 would become the base platform for the later Soyuz rocket booster in the 1960s. This system would go on to become one of the most…
An image of the Plesetsk Soyuz-2 launch complex in 2006. Formerly a secret ICBM base, Plesetsk has been transformed into a civilian cosmodrome for commercial launches.
This image shows the launch site of Europe America Space Flight 500, the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, during the Cold War. Originally a top-secret ICBM site, Plesetsk was converted shortly after the Soviet Union's fall in 1991 into a commercial launch…