Ariane 5 was a retired European heavy-lift space launch vehicle developed and operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA). It was launched from the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) in French Guiana. It was used to deliver payloads into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO),low Earth orbit (LEO) or further into space. The launch vehicle had a streak of 82 consecutive successful launches between 9 April 2003 and 12 December 2017. Since 2014,Ariane 6,a direct successor system,is in development.
The Centaur is a family of rocket propelled upper stages produced by U.S. launch service provider United Launch Alliance,with one main active version and one version under development. The 3.05 m (10.0 ft) diameter Common Centaur/Centaur III flies as the upper stage of the Atlas V launch vehicle,and the 5.4 m (18 ft) diameter Centaur V is being developed as the upper stage of ULA's new Vulcan rocket. Centaur was the first rocket stage to use liquid hydrogen (LH2) and liquid oxygen (LOX) propellants,a high-energy combination that is ideal for upper stages but has significant handling difficulties.
Project Vanguard was a program managed by the United States Navy Naval Research Laboratory (NRL),which intended to launch the first artificial satellite into low Earth orbit using a Vanguard rocket. as the launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral Missile Annex,Florida.
Proton is an expendable launch system used for both commercial and Russian government space launches. The first Proton rocket was launched in 1965. Modern versions of the launch system are still in use As of 2023,making it one of the most successful heavy boosters in the history of spaceflight. The components of all Protons are manufactured in the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center factory in Moscow and Chemical Automatics Design Bureau in Voronezh,then transported to the Baikonur Cosmodrome,where they are assembled at Site 91 to form the launch vehicle. Following payload integration,the rocket is then brought to the launch pad horizontally by rail,and raised into vertical position for launch.
The Delta rocket family is a versatile range of American rocket-powered expendable launch systems that has provided space launch capability in the United States since 1960. Japan also launched license-built derivatives from 1975 to 1992. More than 300 Delta rockets have been launched with a 95% success rate. The series has been phased-out in favor of the Vulcan Centaur,with only the Delta IV Heavy rocket remaining in use as of June 2023.
Titan IIIB was the collective name for a number of derivatives of the Titan II ICBM and Titan III launch vehicle,modified by the addition of an Agena upper stage. It consisted of four separate rockets. The Titan 23B was a basic Titan II with an Agena upper stage,and the Titan 24B was the same concept,but using the slightly enlarged Titan IIIM rocket as the base. The Titan 33B was a Titan 23B with the Agena enclosed in an enlarged fairing,in order to allow larger payloads to be launched. The final member of the Titan IIIB family was the Titan 34B which was a Titan 24B with the larger fairing used on the Titan 33B.
The Titan IIIC was an expendable launch system used by the United States Air Force from 1965 until 1982. It was the first Titan booster to feature large solid rocket motors and was planned to be used as a launcher for the Dyna-Soar,though the spaceplane was cancelled before it could fly. The majority of the launcher's payloads were DoD satellites,for military communications and early warning,though one flight (ATS-6) was performed by NASA. The Titan IIIC was launched exclusively from Cape Canaveral while its sibling,the Titan IIID,was launched only from Vandenberg AFB.
Atlas II was a member of the Atlas family of launch vehicles,which evolved from the successful Atlas missile program of the 1950s. The Atlas II was a direct evolution of the Atlas I,featuring longer first stage tanks,higher-performing engines,and the option for strap-on solid rocket boosters. It was designed to launch payloads into low Earth orbit,geosynchronous transfer orbit or geosynchronous orbit. Sixty-three launches of the Atlas II,IIA and IIAS models were carried out between 1991 and 2004;all sixty-three launches were successes,making the Atlas II a highly reliable space launch system. The Atlas line was continued by the Atlas III,used between 2000 and 2005,and the Atlas V which is still in use.
Delta III was an expendable launch vehicle made by McDonnell Douglas. The vehicle was developed from the highly-successful Delta II to help meet the launch demand of larger satellites. The first Delta III launch was on August 26,1998. Of its three flights,the first two were failures,and the third,though declared successful,reached the low end of its targeted orbit range and carried only a dummy (inert) payload. The Delta III could deliver up to 3,810 kg (8,400 lb) to geostationary transfer orbit,twice the payload of its predecessor,the Delta II. Under the four-digit designation system from earlier Delta rockets,the Delta III is classified as the Delta 8930.
The Payload Assist Module (PAM) is a modular upper stage designed and built by McDonnell Douglas,using Thiokol Star-series solid propellant rocket motors. The PAM was used with the Space Shuttle,Delta,and Titan launchers and carried satellites from low Earth orbit to a geostationary transfer orbit or an interplanetary course. The payload was spin stabilized by being mounted on a rotating plate. Originally developed for the Space Shuttle,different versions of the PAM were developed:
The Atlas III was an American orbital launch vehicle,used in the years between 2000 and 2005. It was developed from the highly successful Atlas II rocket and shared many components. It was the first member of the Atlas family since the Atlas A to feature a "normal" staging method,compared to the previous Atlas family members,which were equipped with two jettisonable outboard engines on the first (booster) stage. The Atlas III was developed further to create the Atlas V,which still flies to this day.
The Inertial Upper Stage (IUS),originally designated the Interim Upper Stage,was a two-stage,solid-fueled space launch system developed by Boeing for the United States Air Force beginning in 1976 for raising payloads from low Earth orbit to higher orbits or interplanetary trajectories following launch aboard a Titan 34D or Titan IV rocket as its upper stage,or from the payload bay of the Space Shuttle as a space tug.
Fregat (Russian:Фрегат,frigate) is an upper stage developed by NPO Lavochkin in the 1990s,which is used in some Soyuz and Zenit launch vehicles,but is universal and can be used as a part of a medium and heavy class launch vehicles. Fregat became operational in February 2000. Its liquid propellant engine uses UDMH and N2O4. Fregat's success rate is 97.8% (with 2 failures in 93 launches),which makes it one of the most reliable upper stages in the world. Fregat has successfully delivered more than 300 payloads into different orbits. It remains the only upper stage in the world that can place its payload into 3 or more different orbits in a single launch.
Thor was a US space launch vehicle derived from the PGM-17 Thor intermediate-range ballistic missile. The Thor rocket was the first member of the Delta rocket family of space launch vehicles. The last launch of a direct derivative of the Thor missile occurred in 2018 as the first stage of the final Delta II.
The Atlas I was a US expendable launch system manufactured by General Dynamics in the 1990s to launch a variety of satellites. It was largely a commercial rebrand of the Atlas G,but did feature several electrical and guidance improvements. Atlas I did not feature any major payload capacity improvements over its predecessor but did offer a larger payload fairing option. Eleven launches took place,with three failures.
The Delta IV Heavy is an expendable heavy-lift launch vehicle,the largest type of the Delta IV family. It is the world's third highest-capacity launch vehicle in operation,behind NASA's Space Launch System and SpaceX's Falcon Heavy and closely followed by CASC's Long March 5. It is manufactured by United Launch Alliance (ULA) and was first launched in 2004. ULA will retire the Delta IV Heavy in 2024. As of June 2023,one flight remains.
The Atlas E/F was an American expendable launch system and sounding rocket built using parts of decommissioned SM-65 Atlas missiles. It was a member of the Atlas family of rockets.
The EELV Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA) is an adapter for launching secondary payloads on orbital launch vehicles.
The Blok DM-03,GRAU index 11S861-03,is a Russian upper stage used as an optional fourth stage on the Proton-M heavy-lift rocket. Three have been launched,the first in December 2010;the first two launches failed before fourth stage ignition,the first as a result of a problem with the Blok DM's fuel load.
The Able rocket stage was a rocket stage manufactured in the United States by Aerojet as the second of three stages of the Vanguard rocket used in the Vanguard project from 1957 to 1959. The rocket engine used nitric acid and UDMH as rocket propellants. The Able rocket stage was discontinued in 1960. The improved Ablestar version was used as the upper stage of the Thor-Ablestar two stage launcher. The Ablestar second stage was an enlarged version of the Able rocket stage,which gave the Thor-Ablestar a greater payload capacity compared to the earlier Thor-Able. It also incorporated restart capabilities,allowing a multiple-burn trajectory to be flown,further increasing payload,or allowing the rocket to reach different orbits. It was the first rocket to be developed with such a capability and development of the stage took a mere eight months.
