Soyuz was the name for the Russian moon capsule and is the Russian word for "Union". It was designed in 1967 for use on the N-1 moon rocket. However, with the failure of the N-1, Soyuz was made the primary Soviet and later, Russian spacecraft, ferrying cosmonauts to LEO, Salyut, Apollo 21 (ASTP), and Mir. The Russians tried to make their Buran space shuttle it's main space vehicle and replace Soyuz, but Buran's apparently permanent grounding has kept the Soyuz in service.