Some good photos of the Soyuz rocket. It is ancient in terms of rockets but a reliable workhorse. I like it because it is unique in its design.



Two Soyuz in the hangar prepared to launch. There is the center stage and there are 4 boosters at the side which are dropped early. BTW you see 4 nozzles at each booster but it is really only one engine with one turbopump. They use 4 nozzles because 1 big nozzle causes instabilities that are very hard to control. So not 20 engines but only 5 engines. There is also one smaller nozzles. Those are the so called Vernier thrusters. They are used for steering. The big engine block is fixed and only the small one is movable for steering. Newer designs no longer use Vernier engines. They make the whole engine movable for steering. Another sign the design is ancient but who cares. They can build them cheap and they are reliable.



This is the interstage. The structure that connects the first stage with the second stage. From this photo alone it is clear it is a soviet/russian design. This latticework of struts is used by them, seen very prominent on the failed N1. The US designers prefer a cylinder of thin metal or composite materials.