Launch vehicles
Section directed by Jean-Jacques Serra| A: | Ares | Ariane | ASLV | Astra Rocket | Athena | Atlas | |
| B: | Black Arrow | ||||||
| C: | Cyclone | Conestoga | Cosmos B | Cosmos C | |||
| D: | Delta | Diamant | Dnepr | ||||
| H: | H1 & H2 | ||||||
| I: | ISAS vehicles | ISRO vehicles | |||||
| K: | Kuaizhou | KSLV | |||||
| L: | Long March | Long March 11 | |||||
| M: | Minotaur | Molniya | Mu | ||||
| N: | N1 & N2 | NASDA vehicles | New Glenn | ||||
| P: | Pegasus | Proton | PSLV | ||||
| R: | Rokot | ||||||
| S: | Safir | Scout | Semiorka | Shavit | Shtil | SLV 3 | Smart Dragon |
| Soyuz | Start | STS | |||||
| T: | Taurus | Terran | Thor | Tianlong | Titan | ||
| V: | Vanguard | VLS | |||||
| Z: | Zenit |
World Launch Vehicle Overview
| Vehicle | First launch | LEO capacity (kg) | GTO capacity (kg) | Comments |
| CIS (Sheldon / DoD) | Detailed soviet chart here | |||
| Semiorka (A / SL1) | 4 Oct 1957 | 1300 | 2-stage (--> 1958) | |
| Luna (A1 / SL2) |
(Aug
1958) 2 Jan 1959 | 3-stage (--> 1960) | ||
| Vostok (A1 / SL3) | 15 May 1960 | 4700 | 3-stage | |
| Molniya (A2e / SL6) |
(10
Oct 1960) 4 Feb 1961 | 1600 (THEO) | 4-stage, Molniya or Prognoz orbit | |
| Cosmos B (B1 / SL7) | 16 Mar 1962 | 450 | 2-stage (--> 1977), 144 launches | |
| Voskhod (A2 / SL4) | 16 Nov 1963 | 5500 | 3-stage | |
| Cosmos C (C1 / SL8) | 18 Aug 1964 | 1400 | 2-stage | |
| Proton (D / SL9) | 16 Jul 1965 | 12500 | 2-stage (--> 1968) | |
| Cosmos (F1r / SL11) | 17 Sep 1966 | 2-stage (--> 1971) | ||
| Soyuz (A2 / SL4) | 28 Nov 1966 | 7500 | 3-stage | |
| Soyuz ST | late 2005 | 3200 | from Kourou | |
| Proton (D1e / SL12) | 10 Mar 1967 | 4400 (GEO) | 4-stage | |
| Cyclone 2 (F1m / SL11) | 27 Oct 1967 | 4000 | 2-stage | |
| N1 (G / SL15?) | (21 Feb 1969) | Lunar vehicle launcher | ||
| Proton (D1 / SL13) | 16 Nov 1968 | 20000 | 3-stage | |
| Cyclone 3 (F2 / SL14) | 24 Jun 1977 | 5500 | 3-stage | |
| Zenit (J1 / SL16) | 21 Jun 1985 | 15000 | 2-stage | |
| Energia (K1 / SL17) | 15 May 1987 | 140000 | 18000 (GEO) | shuttle, 2 successful flights |
| Start | 25 Mar 1993 | 500 | 5-stage | |
| Rokot | 26 Dec 1994 | 1850 | 3-stage (RS18K) | |
| Rokot M | planned for 2022 | |||
| Shtil | 7 Jul 1998 | 430 kg | 3-stage, converted R-29RM (RSM-54), submarine launch | |
| Dnepr | 21 Apr 1999 | 3000 | 2-stage, converted SS-18 (R36-M2 / 15A18M) | |
| Proton M + Briz M | 7 Apr 2001 | 21000 | 5500 (GTO) | to be retired by 2025 |
| Strela | 5 Dec 2003 | 1700 | modified RS-18 | |
| Soyuz 2 | 19 Oct 2006 | 7480 | ||
| Angara 1 | 9 Jul 2014 | 3500 | Briz KM or Bloc 1 top stage. To replace Cosmos 3 and Cyclone 3 launchers | |
| Angara 1.2 | planned in 2021 | |||
| Angara A5 | 23 Dec 2014 | 5200 | Briz M top stage / launch from Plesetsk | |
| Angara A5V | 2025 | 35000 | heavy lift, cryogenic upper stage, to launch from Vostochny | |
| Aurora | ? | launch from Christmas Island | ||
| Baiterek/Baitarek | 2025? |
Updated
Zenit vehicle, launched from Tyuratam $500 million for rocket developement paid by Russia, $245 million for the launch pad paid by Kazakhstan | ||
| Cyclone 2K | 2006 | 2000 |
modernised
version of
Cyclone 2
http://www.unitedstart.com/Tsyklon2/ | |
| Cyclone 4 | 2023 | 5500 | 1800 | Cyclone 3 with a Fregat upper stage. Launch from Canso spaceport, Nova Scotia, Canada |
| Proton Light | 2019 | 3600 | 4-engine first stage | |
| Soyuz 2-1v | 28 Dec 2013 | 2850 | NK-33-1 core motor, no strap-ons | |
| Soyuz 5 | 2022 | 9000 |
62m
long, 270 tons Would be able to launch from Sea Launch platform relocated to eastern Russia. With reusable first stage | |
| Soyuz 6 (Amur) | 2026 | 10500 | With a reusable first stage, powered by methane should cost $22 million without upper stage. Launch from Vostochny | |
| Soyuz 7 | 17000 | Would be a Soyuz 5 adapted to launch from the Sea Launch platform. Would use the new Fregat SBU upper stage | ||
| Soyuz STK | late-2011 | Soyuz to be launched from Kourou | ||
|
Yenisei Super Heavy SLVS | 2028 | 70000 | should provide 20 tons capacity to cislunar polar orbit | |
| Zenit 2 | Launch from Tyuratam | |||
| Zenit 2S | Dec 2019? |
SL-37 Launch from Sea Launch | ||
| United States | ||||
| Vanguard |
(6
Dec1957) 17 Mar 1958 | 25 | 3-stage (--> 1959), 3 successful flights | |
| Juno 1 | 31 Jan 1958 | 40 | 4-stage (--> 1959) | |
| Thor Able |
(17
Aug 1958) 11 Oct 1958 | 200 | 3-stage (--> Thor Delta) | |
| Juno 2 | 6 Dec 1958 | 50 | 4-stage (--> 1961) | |
| Atlas | 18 Dec 1958 | 1300 | Mercury launcher | |
| Thor Agena | 28 Feb 1959 | 1000 | 2-stage (--> LTT Agena) | |
| Atlas Able | (26 Nov 1959) | 3-stage (--> 1960) | ||
| Atlas Agena |
(26
Feb 1960) 24 May 1960 | 2300 | 2-stage (--> 1978) | |
| Thor Ablestar | 13 Apr 1960 | 2-stage (--> 1965) | ||
| Thor Delta |
(13
May 1960) 18 Aug 1960 | 3-stage, (--> Delta) | ||
| Scout |
(4
Dec 1960) 16 Feb 1961 | 4-stage (--> 1994) | ||
| Atlas Centaur |
(8
May 1962) 16 Feb 1961 | 5600 | 2250 | 4-stage (--> Atlas 2) |
| Saturn 1 | 29 Jan 1964 | 6800 | 2/3-stage (--> 1965) | |
| Titan 2 | 08 Apr 1964 | 3500 | Gemini launcher | |
| Titan 3A |
(01
Sep 1964) 10 Dec 1964 | 3-stage (--> 1965) | ||
| Titan 3C | 18 Jun 1965 | 11300 | 4500 | 3-stage + boosters (--> Titan 34D) |
| Saturn 1B | 05 Jul 1966 | 12900 | Apollo launcher | |
| Titan 3B | 29 Jul 1966 | 3500 | 700 (THEO) | 3-stage (--> Titan 34B) |
| LTTAT Agena | 09 Aug 1966 | 2000 | 2-stage (--> 1972) | |
| Saturn 5 | 09 Nov 1967 | 140000 | Lunar vehicle launcher | |
| Titan 3D | 15 Jun 1971 | 13000 | 3-stage + boosters (--> Titan 34D) | |
| Delta 29xx | 09 Nov 1972 | 2000 | 720 | 2/3-stage (--> Delta 39xx) |
| Delta 39xx | 13 Dec 1975 | 1250 | 2/3 stage (--> Delta 2) | |
| STS | 12 Apr 1981 | 24200 | 5900 (with IUS) | Space Shuttle |
| Titan 34D | 30 Oct 1982 | 15800 | 1900 | 2/3-stage + boosters (--> Titan 4) |
| Delta-2 69xx | 14 Feb 1989 | 4000 | 1400 | Interim Delta 2 |
| Titan 4 | 14 Jun 1989 | 17700 | 5500 | 2/3-stage + boosters |
| Pegasus | 5 Apr 1990 | 400 | air launched rocket | |
| Delta-2 79xx | 26 Nov 1990 | 5000 | 1610 | |
| Atlas 2 | 7 Dec 1991 | 6400 | 2700 | 2-stage |
| Atlas 2A | 10 Jun 1992 | 6800 | 2900 | 2-stage |
| Atlas 2AS | 16 Dec 1993 | 8400 | 3600 | 2-stage + boosters |
| Taurus | 13 Mar 1994 | 1400 | 4-stage | |
| Antares was Taurus 2 | 2013? | 6300 | ||
| Pegasus XL |
(27
Jun 1994) 9 Mar 1996 | 455 | air launched rocket | |
| Athena 1 |
(15
Aug 1995) 23 Aug 1997 | 1000 | 3-stage | |
| Athena 2 | 7 Jan 1998 | 3-stage | ||
| Conestoga | (23 Oct 1995) | 2100 | 4-stage | |
| Zenit Sea Launch | 28 Mar 1996 | 3-stage | ||
| Titan 4B | 23 Feb 1997 | 22000 | ? | 4-stage |
| Delta 3 |
(27
Aug 1998) 23 Aug 2000 | 8346 | 3810 | |
| Minotaur | 27 Jan 2000 | 550 | 440 kg in polar orbit | |
| Atlas 3A | 24 May 2000 | 4200 | it uses the russian RD180 engines on the first stage | |
| Atlas 3B | 21 Feb 2002 | 4500 | ||
| Kister 1 | 2000? | 500 | ||
| Delta-4 | 20 Nov 2002 | 4200 to 13100 kg | ||
| Atlas 5 401/402 | 21 Aug 2002 | 12500 | 4950 | |
| Atlas 5 431 | n/a | 7640 | ||
| Atlas 5 501/502 | 10300 | 3970 | ||
| Atlas 5 551/552 | 20520 | 8670 | ||
| Delta 4 Heavy | 13000 | |||
| Falcon 1 |
(24
Mar 2006) 28 Sep 2008 | |||
| Zenit Land Sea Launch | 28 Apr 2008 | 3-stage | ||
| Falcon 9 | 4 Jun 2010 | 12500 | 4640 |
should
cost $27 million max for launch! Launch from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral |
| Falcon 9 Heavy | 11 Apr 2019 | 53000 | ||
| Ares I-X | 28 Oct 2009 | |||
| Super Strypi |
(4
Nov 2015) 2015 | 300 kg | ||
| LauncherOne |
(25
May 2020) 17 Jan 2021 | 400 |
2-stage should cost $10 million per launch (airborne) 200 kg to sun-synchronous 400 kg to LEO Launch from a modified Boeing 747-400 from the USA and possibly from Japan | |
| Astra Rocket |
(21 Jul 2018) 20 Nov 2021 | 150 | ||
| Firefly Alpha | 1 Oct 2022 | 400 | ||
| Terran | (23 Mar 2023) | 6000 | ||
| Starship | (20 Apr 2023) | |||
| Vector R | 2018 | 50 | ||
| Vector H | 2019 | 105 | ||
| New Glenn | 2022? | 45 tons | ||
| Cubecab | to launch 1U or 3U satellites for $250000 | |||
| OmegA | planned in 2021 |
By
Northrop Grumman Corporation Launch from Kennedy Space Center pad 39B | ||
| France | ||||
| Diamant A | 26 Nov 1965 | 80 | 3-stage (--> 1967) | |
| Diamant B | 10 Mar 1970 | 115 | 3-stage (--> 1973) | |
| Diamant BP4 | 6 Feb 1975 | 150 | 3-stage (--> 1975) | |
| Japan | ||||
| Lambda-4S |
(26
Sep 1966) 11 Feb 1970 | 20 | 4-stage, 1 successful flight | |
| Mu-4S |
(25
Sep 1970) 16 Feb 1971 | 75 | 3-stage (--> 1972) | |
| Mu-3C | 16 Feb 1974 | 85 | 3-stage (--> 1976) | |
| N1 | 9 Sep 1975 | 3-stage (--> 1982) | ||
| Mu-3H | 19 Feb 1977 | 100 | 3-stage (--> 1979) | |
| Mu-3S1 | 17 Feb 1981 | 200 | 3-stage (--> 1984) | |
| N2 | 11 Feb 1981 | 350 | 3-stage (--> 1987) | |
| Mu-3S2 | 8 Jan 1985 | 400 | ||
| H1 | 13 Aug 1986 | 3200 | 1100 | 3-stage (--> 1995) |
| H2 | 3 Feb 1994 | 10500 | 4000 (2000 to GEO) | 2-stage + boosters |
| Mu 5 | 12 Feb 1997 | 1800 | solid 3-stage. worth $60 million | |
| J1 | cancelled | 870 |
solid
3-stage consist of H2 strap-on first stage + 2 stages of Mu-3S2 | |
| H2A202 | 29 Aug 2001 | 4000 | $71 million | |
| H2A2022 | ? | 4250 | 2 little boosters | |
| H2A2024 | 4 Feb 2002 | 4600 | 4 little boosters | |
| H2A mod | ? | 6000 | 2 additional main engines | |
| H2A212 | 2008? | 18000 | 7500 | H2A202 heavy version with a lateral body |
| H2A222 | ? | 23000 | 9500 | 2 lateral bodies |
| H2B | 10 Sep 2009 | 16500 | 8000 | 2 engines on the main body and 4 boosters |
| Epsilon | 14 Sep 2013 | 1200 | 3 stages | |
| SS-520 | 2 Feb 2018 | 140 | ||
| H3 | 2021 | 6500 | MHI-built, new LE-9 first stage engine | |
| China | ||||
| Long March 11 | 25 Sep 2015 | |||
| Long March 1D | no launches? | 1000 | liquid/solid 3-stage | |
| Long March 1 |
(01
Nov 1969) 24 Apr 1970 | 3-stage (--> 1971) | ||
| Long March 2A | (05 Nov 1974) | No successful flight | ||
| FB 1 | 10 Aug 1972 | 2-stage (LEO) (--> 1981) | ||
| Long March 2C | 26 Nov 1975 | 2500 | 1000 + PKM |
liquid
2-stage 14 success |
| Long March 3 | 29 Jan 1984 | 5000 | 1400 | liquid 3-stage |
| Long March 4 | 6 Sep 1988 | 4000 | 1550 | liquid 3-stage |
| Long March 2E | 16 Jul 1990 | 9200 | 3370 with PKM | liquid 2-stage + 4 liquid strap-ons |
| Long March 2D | 9 Aug 1992 | 3300 | liquid 2-stage | |
| Long March 3A | 8 Feb 1994 | 7200 | 2500 | liquid 2-stage |
| Long March 3B |
(14
Feb 1996) 19 Aug 1997 | 4800 |
liquid
3-stage + 4 liquid strap-ons consist of Long March 3A with 4 2E strap-ons | |
| Long March 3C | 28 Oct 2006 | 3800 |
liquid
3-stage + 2 liquid strap-ons consist of Long March 3A with 2 2E strap-ons | |
| Long March 4C | 11 Nov 2007 | |||
| Long March 4B 8S | exp. 2001 | 7800 | 2670 | liquid 3-stage + 8 strap-ons |
| Kuaizhou (KZ) | 25 Sep 2013 | available commercially from 2017 | ||
| KT 1 | (15 Sep 2002) | 100 | 4-stage | |
| Long March 5 | 3 Nov 2016 | 25000 | 14000 | |
| Long March 6 | 19 Sep 2015 | 1080 | ||
| Long March 7 | 25 Jun 2016 | 13500 | 5500 kg to sun-synchronous orbit (700 km) | |
| KT 2 | 2 Mar 2017 | |||
| Zhuque | (27 Oct 2018) | 3-stage | ||
| Smart Dragon 1 | 17 Aug 2019 | 150 | Produced by Calt, solid-propellant | |
| Ceres 1 | 7 Nov 2020 | |||
| Long March 6A | exp 2021 | |||
| ZhongKe | 27 Jul 2022 | 1500 | 4-stage | |
| Zhuque 2 | (14 Dec 2022) | 2000 |
from
LandSpace Technology Corporation Ltd. LOX/LCH4 engine | |
| Tianlong | 2 Apr 2023 | 2000 | ||
| Long March 8 | exp 2021 | |||
| Long March 9 | exp 2033 | 140,000 |
3-stage,
should be fully reusable. First stage using methane. 114m long, 4400 tons at
liftoff built by CALT | |
| Long March 10 | exp 2027 | |||
| Long March 11A | exp. 2022 | 500 | 500 kg in 500 km sun-synchronous orbit | |
| NewLine 1 | exp 2020 | 200 | with a reusable first stage | |
| Chongqing Liangjiang Star | First sub-orbital launch in May 2018 | |||
| Guoyao Tech | 2022 | electromagnetic launch technology | ||
| United Kingdom | ||||
| Black Arrow |
(1
Sep 1970) 28 Oct 1971 |
3-stage One successful flight | ||
| SpaceLS | 2020? | aims to lift cubesats in LEO | ||
| Orbex Prime | 2023? | 150 | Launch from Sutherland or Kinloss in Scotland, UK | |
| RS1 | (10 Jan 2023) | 1350 | UK Pathfinder Launch from Shetland Space Centre (Unst) | |
| Europe | ||||
| Europa 1 F8 | (30 Nov 1968) | No successful flight | ||
| Europa 2 | (05 Nov 1971) | No successful flight | ||
| Ariane 1 | 24 Dec 1979 | 1700 | 3-stage (--> 1986) | |
| Ariane 3 | 4 Aug 1984 | 2580 | 3-stage + boosters | |
| Ariane 2 | 30 May 1986 | 2065 | 3-stage | |
| Ariane 4, 44LP | 15 Jun 1988 | 8300 | 4030 | |
| Ariane 4, 44L | 4 Jun 1989 | 9600 | 4460 | |
| Ariane 4, 40 | 22 Jan 1990 | 4900 | 2020 | 3-stage |
| Ariane 4, 42P | 20 Nov 1990 | 6100 | 2740 | |
| Ariane 4, 44P | 4 Apr 1991 | 6900 | 3290 | |
| Ariane 4, 42L | 12 May 1993 | 7400 | 3350 | |
| Ariane 5 |
(4 Jun 1996)
30 Oct 1997 | 18000 | 6800 | liquid 2-stage + 2 solid strap-ons |
| Ariane 5 ME | mid-2018 | |||
| Vega | 2012 | 1500 | from Kourou ELA1, 3 solid stages and a liquid 4th stage | |
| Vega C | 2021 | 2200 | 4 stages | |
| Vega E | 2025 | 3 stages | ||
| Ariane 6-2 | 2022? | 7000 | 5000 | 2 boosters |
| Ariane 6-4 | 2022? | 10000 | 4 boosters | |
| India | ||||
| SLV 3 |
(10
Aug 1979) 18 Jul 1980 | 40 | 4-stage (--> 1983) | |
| ASLV |
(24
Mar 1987) 20 May 1992 | 150 | solid 4-stage + 2 solid strap-ons (--> 1994) | |
| PSLV |
(20
Sep 1993) 15 Oct 1994 | 3000 | solid/liquid 4-stage + 2 solid strap-ons | |
| GSLV | 18 Apr 2001 | 8000 | 2500 | 3-stage |
| GSLV 2 | 5 Jan 2014 | 2200 | 3-stage | |
| GSLV 3 | 2017? | 8000 | 4000 | 3-stage |
| SSLV | (7 Aug 2022) | 500 | 4-stage | |
| Israel | ||||
| Shavit | 19 Sep 1988 | 150 | solid 3-stage | |
| Brazil | ||||
| VLS | (2 Nov 1997) | 350 | Next launch planned in 2006 | |
| Ukraine | ||||
| Cyclone 4 | planned in 2006 |
to
be launched from Alcantara, Brasil Similar to A Cyclone 3 with an additional Fregat upper stage | ||
| South Korea | ||||
| KSLV 1 |
(25 Aug 2009) 30 Jan 2013 | 100 | n/a |
Two-stage rocket, first stage based on Angara. Launch from Naro Space Center on Oenaro Island. |
| Iran | ||||
| Safir |
(17
Aug 2008) 02 Feb 2009 | Two-stage | ||
| Safir 2 | (April 2016) | 350 | Two-stage | |
| Qased | 22 April 2020 | |||
| North Korea | ||||
| Unha 2 | (Apr 2009) | 100? | ||
| Unha 3 |
(Apr
2012) 12 Dec 2012 | 150? | ||
| New Zealand | ||||
| Electron | (26 May 2017) | 300 | ||
| Neutron | 2024? | 8000 | reusable first stage | |
| Australia | ||||
| Eris (Gilmour Space) | planned in 2023 | 305 | launched from Queensland, Australia | |
| Eris Heavy | planned in 2025 | 2000 | ||
| Germany | ||||
| Spectrum | 2022? | 1000 | Isar Aerospace, 2-stage rocket |
This document is part of The Satellite Encyclopedia, © Tag's Broadcasting Services, all rights reserved, NO REPRODUCTION ALLOWED. Please notify any errors, omissions, etc.
V0.141 - Converted on Tue, 30 May 2023 16:29:42 GMT - Updated quarterly
V0.141 - Converted on Tue, 30 May 2023 16:29:42 GMT - Updated quarterly