Alaunch vehicle is typically arocket-powered vehicle designed to carry apayload (a crewedspacecraft orsatellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere toouter space. The most common form is theballistic missile-shapedmultistage rocket, but the term is more general and also encompasses vehicles like theSpace Shuttle. Most launch vehicles operate from alaunch pad, supported by alaunch control center and systems such as vehicle assembly and fueling.[1] Launch vehicles are engineered with advancedaerodynamics and technologies, which contribute to high operating costs.
Anorbital launch vehicle must lift its payload at least to the boundary of space, approximately 150 km (93 mi) and accelerate it to a horizontal velocity of at least 7,814 m/s (17,480 mph).[2]Suborbital vehicles launch their payloads to lower velocity or are launched atelevation angles greater than horizontal.
Following the end of the Space Race, spaceflight has been characterized by greater international cooperation, cheaper access tolow Earth orbit and an expansion of commercial ventures.Interplanetary probes have visited all of the planets in theSolar System, and humans have remained in orbit for long periods aboard space stations such asMir and theISS. Most recently, China has emerged as the third nation with the capability to launch independent crewed missions, while operators in the commercial sector have developed reusable booster systems and craft launched from airborne platforms. In 2020,SpaceX became the first commercial operator to successfully launch a crewed mission to theInternational Space Station withCrew Dragon Demo-2.
Sounding rockets are similar to small-lift launch vehicles, however they are usually even smaller and do not place payloads into orbit. A modifiedSS-520 sounding rocket was used to place a 4-kilogram payload (TRICOM-1R) into orbit in 2018.[7]
Orbital spaceflight requires asatellite orspacecraft payload to be accelerated to very high velocity. In the vacuum of space, reaction forces must be provided by the ejection of mass, resulting in therocket equation. The physics of spaceflight are such thatrocket stages are typically required to achieve the desired orbit.[citation needed]
Expendable launch vehicles are designed for one-time use, with boosters that usually separate from their payload and disintegrate duringatmospheric reentry or on contact with the ground. In contrast,reusable launch vehicles are designed to be recovered intact and launched again. TheFalcon 9 is an example of a reusable launch vehicle.[8] As of 2023, all reusable launch vehicles that were ever operational have been partially reusable, meaning some components are recovered and others are not. This usually means the recovery of specific stages, usually just the first stage, but sometimes specific components of a rocket stage may be recovered while others are not. TheSpace Shuttle, for example, recovered and reused itssolid rocket boosters, theSpace Shuttle orbiter that also acted as a second stage, and the engines used by the core stage (theRS-25, which was located at the back of the orbiter), however the fuel tank that the engines sourced fuel from, which was separate from the engines, was not reused.[citation needed]
A launch vehicle will start off with its payload at some location on the surface of the Earth. To reach orbit, the vehicle must travel vertically to leave theatmosphere and horizontally to prevent re-contacting the ground. Therequired velocity varies depending on the orbit but will always be extreme when compared to velocities encountered in normal life.[citation needed]
Launch vehicles provide varying degrees of performance. For example, a satellite bound forGeostationary orbit (GEO) can either be directly inserted by theupper stage of the launch vehicle or launched to ageostationary transfer orbit (GTO). A direct insertion places greater demands on the launch vehicle, while GTO is more demanding of the spacecraft. Once in orbit, launch vehicle upper stages and satellites can have overlapping capabilities, although upper stages tend to have orbital lifetimes measured in hours or days while spacecraft can last decades.[citation needed]
Distributed launch involves the accomplishment of a goal with multiple spacecraft launches. A large spacecraft such as theInternational Space Station can be constructed by assembling modules in orbit, or in-spacepropellant transfer conducted to greatly increase thedelta-V capabilities of acislunar or deep space vehicle. Distributed launch enables space missions that are not possible with single launch architectures.[9]
Mission architectures for distributed launch were explored in the 2000s[10] and launch vehicles with integrated distributed launch capability built in began development in 2017 with theStarship design. The standard Starship launch architecture is to refuel the spacecraft inlow Earth orbit to enable the craft to send high-mass payloads on much moreenergetic missions.[11]
After 1980, but before the 2010s, two orbital launch vehicles developed the capability toreturn to the launch site (RTLS). Both the USSpace Shuttle—with one of itsabort modes[12][13]—and the SovietBuran[14]had a designed-in capability to return a part of the launch vehicle to the launch site via the mechanism ofhorizontal-landing of thespaceplane portion of the launch vehicle. In both cases, the main vehicle thrust structure and the large propellant tank wereexpendable, as had been the standard procedure for all orbital launch vehicles flown prior to that time. Both were subsequently demonstrated on actual orbital nominal flights, although both also had an abort mode during launch that could conceivably allow the crew to land the spaceplane following an off-nominal launch.[15]
In the 2000s, bothSpaceX andBlue Origin haveprivately developed a set of technologies to supportvertical landing of the booster stage of a launch vehicle. After 2010, SpaceX undertook adevelopment program to acquire the ability to bring back andvertically land a part of theFalcon 9orbital launch vehicle: thefirst stage. The first successful landing was done in December 2015,[16] since 2017 rocket stages routinely land either at alanding pad adjacent to the launch site or on alanding platform at sea, some distance away from the launch site.[17] TheFalcon Heavy is similarly designed to reuse the three cores comprising its first stage. On itsfirst flight in February 2018, the two outer cores successfully returned to the launch site landing pads while the center core targeted the landing platform at sea but did not successfully land on it.[18]
Blue Origin developed similar technologies for bringing back and landing theirsuborbitalNew Shepard, and successfully demonstrated return in 2015, and successfully reused the same booster on a second suborbital flight in January 2016.[19] By October 2016, Blue had reflown, and landed successfully, that same launch vehicle a total of five times.[20] The launch trajectories of both vehicles are very different, with New Shepard going straight up and down, whereas Falcon 9 has to cancel substantial horizontal velocity and return from a significant distance downrange.[21]
Both Blue Origin and SpaceX also have additional reusable launch vehicles under development. Blue is developing the first stage of the orbitalNew Glenn LV to be reusable, with first flight planned for no earlier than 2024. SpaceX has a new super-heavy launch vehicle under development for missions tointerplanetary space. TheSpaceX Starship is designed to support RTLS, vertical-landing and full reuse of both the booster stage and the integrated second-stage/large-spacecraft that are designed for use with Starship.[22] Itsfirst launch attempt took place in April 2023; however, both stages were lost during ascent.[23] Thefifth launch attempt ended with Booster 12 being caught by the launch tower, and Ship 30, the upper stage, successfully landing in the Indian Ocean.[24]
^HSF Final Report: Seeking a Human Spaceflight Program Worthy of a Great NationArchived 2009-11-22 at theWayback Machine, October 2009,Review of U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans Committee, p. 64-66: "5.2.1 The Need for Heavy Lift ... require a “super heavy-lift” launch vehicle ... range of 25 to 40 mt, setting a notional lower limit on the size of the super heavy-lift launch vehicle if refueling is available ... this strongly favors a minimum heavy-lift capacity of roughly 50 mt ..."
This template lists historical, current, and future space rockets that at least once attempted (but not necessarily succeeded in) an orbital launch or that are planned to attempt such a launch in the future
Symbol† indicates past or current rockets that attempted orbital launches but never succeeded (never did or has yet to perform a successful orbital launch)
