Sea Launch was a multinational—Norway, Russia, Ukraine, United States—spacecraft launch company founded in 1995 that provided orbital launch services from 1999–2014. The company used a mobile maritime launch platform for equatorial launches of commercial payloads on specialized Zenit-3SL rockets from a former mobile/floating oil drilling rig renamed Odyssey.
Pivdenne Design Office, located in Dnipro, Ukraine, is a designer of satellites and rockets, and formerly of Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), established by Mikhail Yangel. During Soviet times the bureau's OKB designation was OKB-586.
Zenit is a family of space launch vehicles designed by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau in Dnipro, Ukraine, which was then part of the Soviet Union. Zenit was originally built in the 1980s for two purposes: as a liquid rocket booster for the Energia rocket and, equipped with a second stage, as a stand-alone middle-weight launcher with a payload greater than the 7 tonnes of the Soyuz but smaller than the 20 tonnes payload of the Proton. The last rocket family developed in the USSR, the Zenit was intended as an eventual replacement for the dated Soyuz and Proton families, and it would employ propellants which were safer and less toxic than the Proton's nitrogen tetroxide/UDMH mix. Zenit was planned to take over crewed spaceship launches from Soyuz, but these plans were abandoned after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The Tsyklon, GRAU index 11K67, was a Soviet-designed expendable launch system, primarily used to put Cosmos satellites into low Earth orbit. It is based on the R-36 intercontinental ballistic missile designed by Mikhail Yangel and made eight launches, with seven successes and one failure. All of its launches were conducted from LC-90 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. It is sometimes designated Tsyklon-2A, not to be confused with the later Tsyklon-2 rocket. It was introduced in 1967 and was derived from the R-36 ICBM. It was retired in 1969.
The Angara rocket family is a family of launch vehicles being developed by the Moscow-based Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center. The launch vehicles are to put between 3,800 kg (8,400 lb) and 24,500 kg (54,000 lb) into low Earth orbit and are intended, along with Soyuz-2 variants, to replace several existing launch vehicles.
The R-36 is a family of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and space launch vehicles (Tsyklon) designed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The original R-36 was deployed under the GRAU index 8K67 and was given the NATO reporting name SS-9 Scarp. It was able to carry three warheads and was the first Soviet MRV missile. The later version, the R-36M was produced under the GRAU designations 15A14 and 15A18 and was given the NATO reporting name SS-18 Satan. This missile was viewed by certain United States analysts as giving the Soviet Union first strike advantage over the U.S., particularly because of its rapid silo-reload ability, very heavy throw weight and extremely large number of re-entry vehicles. Some versions of the R-36M were deployed with 10 warheads and up to 40 penetration aids and the missile's high throw-weight made it theoretically capable of carrying more warheads or penetration aids. Contemporary U.S. missiles, such as the Minuteman III, carried up to three warheads at most.
The State Space Agency of Ukraine is the Ukrainian government agency responsible for space policy and programs. Along with the Ukrainian Defense Industry and the Antonov Aeronautical Scientific-Technical Complex, it is a major state complex of the national defense industry of Ukraine.The agency was formed in 1992 based on the Soviet space program infrastructure remaining in Ukraine following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
The State Factory «Production Union Pivdennyi Machine-Building Plant named after O.M. Makarov», PA Pivdenmash or formerly, PA Yuzhmash is a Ukrainian state-owned aerospace manufacturer. It was formerly a Soviet state-owned factory.
The Zenit-3SL is an expendable carrier rocket operated by Sea Launch. First flown in 1999, it has been launched 36 times, with three failures and one partial failure. It is a member of the Zenit family of rockets, and is built by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau. RKK Energia produces the Block DM-SL upper stage, whilst the payload fairing is produced by Boeing. Launches are conducted from the Ocean Odyssey platform anchored on the equator in the Pacific Ocean, at a point with 154°W longitude, about 370 kilometres east of Kiritimati.
This is a timeline of first orbital launches by country. While a number of countries have built satellites, as of 2022, eleven countries have had the capability to send objects into orbit using their own launch vehicles. Russia and Ukraine inherited the space launchers and satellites capability from the Soviet Union, following its dissolution in 1991. Russia launches its rockets from its own and foreign (Kazakh) spaceports.
The RD-8 is a Soviet / Ukrainian liquid propellant rocket engine burning LOX and RG-1 in an oxidizer rich staged combustion cycle. It has a four combustion chambers that provide thrust vector control by gimbaling each of the nozzles in a single axis ±33°. It was designed in Dnipropetrovsk by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau as the vernier thruster of the Zenit second stage. As such, it has always been paired with the RD-120 engine for main propulsion.
The Tsyklon-4, also known as Tsiklon-4 and Cyclone-4, was a Ukrainian carrier rocket which was being developed for commercial satellite launches. Derived from the Tsyklon-3, it had a new third stage, a larger payload fairing, and a modernised flight control system compared to its predecessor. The control system had been developed by JSC Khartron.
The RD-120 is a liquid upper stage rocket engine burning RG-1 and LOX in an oxidizer rich staged combustion cycle with an O/F ratio of 2.6. It is used in the second stage of the Zenit family of launch vehicles. It has a single, fixed combustion chamber and thus on the Zenit it is paired with the RD-8 vernier engine. The engine has been developed from 1976 to 1985 by NPO Energomash with V.P. Radovsky leading the development. It is manufactured by, among others, Yuzhmash in Ukraine.
The SCE-200, also referred as Semi-Cryogenic Engine, is a 2 MN thrust class liquid rocket engine, being developed to power India's future heavy and super heavy lift launch vehicles. It is being developed by Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre of Indian Space Research Organisation and is expected to have first flight in 2020s.
The RD-250 (GRAU Index 8D518) is the base version of a dual-nozzle family of liquid rocket engines, burning N2O4 and UDMH in the oxidizer rich staged combustion cycle. The RD-250 was developed by OKB-456 for Yangel's PA Yuzhmash ICBM, the R-36 (8K67). Its variations were also used on the Tsyklon-2 and Tsyklon-3 launch vehicles. It was supposed to be used on the Tsyklon-4, but since the cancellation of the project it should be considered as out of production.
The RD-855 (GRAU Index 8D68M), also known as the RD-68M, is a four-nozzle liquid-fuel rocket vernier engine, burning N2O4 and UDMH in a gas generator cycle. It was used on the R-36, Tsyklon-2 and Tsyklon-3 first stage as thrust vector control by gimbaling of its nozzle. The engine is distributed through a cylindrical structure that is integrated around the main engine RD-251 module. The structure includes aerodynamic protection for the nozzles and small retro engines to assure the separation of the first stage. The engine was ignited two second before the RD-251 main engine.
The RD-856 (GRAU Index 8D69M), also known as the RD-69M, is a four-nozzle liquid-fuel rocket vernier engine, burning N2O4 and UDMH in a gas generator cycle. It was used on the R-36, Tsyklon-2 and Tsyklon-3 second stage as thrust vector control by gimbaling of its nozzle. The engine is distributed through a cylindrical structure that is integrated around the main engine RD-252 module. The structure includes aerodynamic protection for the nozzles. The engine was started by a pyrotechnic ignitor.
The RD-801 is a Ukrainian liquid propellant rocket engine burning LOX and Kerosene (RG-1) in a staged combustion cycle. It has a single combustion chamber that provides thrust vector control by gimbaling of the nozzle in two axis by +/- 6°. It is being designed in Ukraine by Yuzhnoye Design Bureau for the prospective first stage propulsion of the Mayak rocket family.
Maritime Launch Services (MLS) is a Canadian space transport services company founded in 2016 and headquartered in Nova Scotia, Canada. MLS will rely on Ukrainian Cyclone-4M rockets by Pivdenne to launch polar and sun synchronous orbit from Canso, Nova Scotia. MLS is a joint venture of three U.S.-based firms.
Skyrora Ltd is a private space company based in the United Kingdom since 2017.
