Launch Vehicles
The rockets that carry missions beyond Earth.
A
9- Launch vehicle
Angara A5
Russia's modular heavy-lift launcher built from common URM core boosters and burning kerosene/LOX, intended to replace the Proton.
- Launch vehicle
Antares
A medium-lift rocket operated by Northrop Grumman that launched Cygnus cargo spacecraft to the ISS; the flown Antares 230+ retired in 2023 after its Russian/Ukrainian first-stage supply was cut, pending the U.S.-built Antares 330.
- Launch vehicle
Ariane 1
Europe's first launcher, which established independent access to space and orbited the Giotto probe to Halley's Comet.
- Launch vehicle
Ariane 2
An uprated single-payload development of Ariane 1 with a more powerful third stage.
- Launch vehicle
Ariane 3
An Ariane variant adding two solid strap-on boosters and dual-payload capability for commercial satellites.
- Launch vehicle
Ariane 4
A highly successful and flexible Ariane variant with multiple booster configurations that dominated the commercial launch market in the 1990s.
- Launch vehicle
Ariane 5
Ariane 5 was a European heavy-lift launch vehicle operated by Arianespace, notable for launching the James Webb Space Telescope in 2021.
- Launch vehicle
Ariane 6
Europe's successor to Ariane 5, designed for greater flexibility and lower cost.
- Launch vehicle
Atlas V
Atlas V is an expendable launch vehicle operated by United Launch Alliance that has launched numerous NASA science and planetary missions.
D
2- Launch vehicle
Delta II
A highly reliable medium-lift workhorse that launched GPS satellites and many NASA planetary missions, including the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity and the Kepler telescope.
- Launch vehicle
Delta IV Heavy
A heavy-lift expendable rocket by United Launch Alliance, retired in 2024, used for national-security and high-energy science launches such as Parker Solar Probe.
E
3- Launch vehicle
Electron
A small-lift orbital rocket by Rocket Lab for dedicated small-satellite launches.
- Launch vehicle
Energia
The Soviet super heavy-lift rocket that launched the uncrewed Buran shuttle, flying only twice before the program ended.
- Launch vehicle
Epsilon
A Japanese solid-fueled small-lift rocket derived from the H-IIA's booster technology, launched from the Uchinoura Space Center for small scientific satellites.
F
4- Launch vehicle
Falcon 1
SpaceX's first rocket and the first privately developed liquid-fueled launcher to reach orbit, in 2008 — the proving ground for the Merlin engine.
- Launch vehicle
Falcon 9
Falcon 9 is a partially reusable two-stage orbital launch vehicle developed and operated by SpaceX.
- Launch vehicle
Falcon Heavy
Falcon Heavy is a partially reusable heavy-lift launch vehicle derived from the Falcon 9 and operated by SpaceX.
- Launch vehicle
Firefly Alpha
A small-to-medium-lift two-stage rocket operated by Firefly Aerospace for dedicated small-satellite launches.
G
1H
3- Launch vehicle
H-II
Japan's first entirely domestically developed launch vehicle, using cryogenic LH2/LOX stages.
- Launch vehicle
H-IIA
A Japanese launch vehicle that flew JAXA science missions including Hayabusa2 and the Akatsuki Venus orbiter.
- Launch vehicle
H3
JAXA's new-generation launch vehicle with the expander-bleed LE-9 engine, designed for lower cost and higher flexibility than the H-IIA.
L
7- Launch vehicle
LauncherOne
An air-launched, two-stage small rocket released from a modified Boeing 747; it reached orbit before Virgin Orbit ceased operations in 2023.
- Launch vehicle
Long March 2F
China's only human-rated launch vehicle, which carries the Shenzhou spacecraft with crews to the Tiangong space station.
- Launch vehicle
Long March 3B
A Chinese launch vehicle widely used for geostationary satellites and several Chang'e lunar missions.
- Launch vehicle
Long March 5
Long March 5 is a Chinese heavy-lift launch vehicle that has launched missions including the Tianwen-1 Mars probe and modules of the Tiangong space station.
- Launch vehicle
Long March 7
A modern kerosene/LOX medium-lift Long March that launches the Tianzhou cargo spacecraft to the Tiangong station.
- Launch vehicle
Long March 9
A super heavy-lift launch vehicle in development for China's planned crewed lunar and deep-space missions.
- Launch vehicle
LVM3
ISRO's most powerful operational rocket, which launched Chandrayaan-2 and Chandrayaan-3 and is being human-rated for the Gaganyaan program.
M
2N
4- Launch vehicle
N1
The Soviet super heavy-lift Moon rocket; all four launch attempts (1969–1972) failed and the program was cancelled. The flown vehicle used Kuznetsov NK-15 engines; the improved NK-33 (for the never-flown N1F) flew decades later on other rockets.
- Launch vehicle
Neutron
Rocket Lab's reusable medium-lift methane/LOX rocket in development, with a reusable first stage and integrated fairing.
- Launch vehicle
New Glenn
A heavy-lift, partially reusable rocket developed by Blue Origin.
- Launch vehicle
New Shepard
Blue Origin's fully reusable suborbital vehicle for research payloads and crewed flights above the Kármán line; it lands its booster propulsively.
P
3- Launch vehicle
Pegasus
An air-launched, three-stage solid-fueled small rocket dropped from a carrier aircraft to place small satellites into low Earth orbit.
- Launch vehicle
Proton
A Russian heavy-lift rocket used to launch interplanetary probes, large satellites, and space-station modules.
- Launch vehicle
PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle)
The PSLV is an expendable launch vehicle operated by ISRO that has launched many Earth observation satellites as well as the Chandrayaan-1 and Mangalyaan missions.
R
1S
9- Launch vehicle
Saturn I
NASA's first heavy-lift rocket and the first designed for spaceflight rather than as a missile; it flight-tested Apollo hardware and clustered eight engines in its first stage.
- Launch vehicle
Saturn IB
A NASA medium-lift launch vehicle used for early Apollo Earth-orbit tests, the Skylab crews, and the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project.
- Launch vehicle
Saturn V
The Saturn V was a NASA super heavy-lift launch vehicle that carried the Apollo missions to the Moon and launched the Skylab space station.
- Launch vehicle
Soyuz
Soyuz is a family of expendable launch vehicles operated by Roscosmos that has long carried crews and cargo to orbit, including to the International Space Station.
- Launch vehicle
Space Launch System (SLS)
The Space Launch System is NASA's super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed to carry the Orion spacecraft and crew under the Artemis program.
- Launch vehicle
Space Shuttle
NASA's partially reusable crewed launch system — a winged orbiter with an external tank and two solid rocket boosters — that flew 135 missions building the ISS and servicing Hubble.
- Launch vehicle
Spectrum
A small-lift two-stage rocket developed by Germany's Isar Aerospace for the European small-satellite market.
- Launch vehicle
SSLV
ISRO's small-satellite launch vehicle, designed for low-cost, on-demand launches of small payloads to low Earth orbit.
- Launch vehicle
Starship
Starship is a fully reusable super heavy-lift launch system being developed by SpaceX for crewed and cargo missions to Earth orbit, the Moon, and Mars.
T
3- Launch vehicle
Terran R
Relativity Space's reusable heavy-lift methane/LOX rocket, built largely by large-scale additive manufacturing.
- Launch vehicle
Titan II GLV
The human-rated Titan II Gemini Launch Vehicle, adapted from an ICBM to carry the two-person Gemini spacecraft into orbit.
- Launch vehicle
Titan IV
The largest and last of the Titan family — a heavy-lift launcher for large U.S. national-security satellites and the Cassini–Huygens mission to Saturn.
V
3- Launch vehicle
Vega
Europe's small-lift launcher with three solid stages and a liquid upper stage, for small scientific and Earth-observation satellites.
- Launch vehicle
Vega-C
An upgraded, more capable Vega with larger solid motors and a common booster shared with Ariane 6.
- Launch vehicle
Vulcan Centaur
United Launch Alliance's successor to the Atlas V and Delta IV families.