Soyuz-7

Soyuz-7, also called Amur, is a Russian medium-lift orbital launch vehicle that exists only as a design concept. It is meant to be partially reusable and to burn liquid methane with liquid oxygen, which makes it a break from the kerosene-fuelled R-7 lineage behind every earlier Soyuz. The idea started at the Samara rocket maker now called the Progress Rocket Space Centre in the mid-2010s as a possible replacement for Soyuz-2, with a basic two-stage version planned for about nine tonnes to low Earth orbit and larger versions beyond it. By 2020 the concept had been reworked as Amur, and Roscosmos signed a contract for its preliminary design in October 2020. As described in 2020, Amur would stand about 55 metres tall and 4.1 metres across, lift off at about 360 tonnes, and fly from Vostochny with a reusable first stage using five RD-0169A engines. By late 2024 its first launch had slipped to around 2030, and a prototype first stage called Grasshopper was being considered.