Venera 2MV-1 No.2,also known as Sputnik 20 in the Western world,was a Soviet spacecraft,which was launched in 1962 as part of the Venera programme. Due to a problem with its upper stage it failed to leave low Earth orbit,and reentered the atmosphere a few days later. It was the second of two Venera 2MV-1 spacecraft,both of which failed to leave Earth orbit. The previous mission,Venera 2MV-1 No.1,was launched several days earlier.
The Scout family of rockets were American launch vehicles designed to place small satellites into orbit around the Earth. The Scout multistage rocket was the first orbital launch vehicle to be entirely composed of solid fuel stages. It was also the only vehicle of that type until the successful launch of the Japanese Lambda 4S in 1970.
The Kosmos rockets were a series of Soviet and subsequently Russian rockets,derived from the R-12 and R-14 missiles,the best known of which is the Kosmos-3M,which has made over 440 launches. The Kosmos family contained a number of rockets,both carrier rockets and sounding rockets,for orbital and sub-orbital spaceflight respectively. The first variant,the Kosmos-2I,first flew on 27 October 1961. Over 700 Kosmos rockets have been launched overall.
The year 2007 contained several significant events in spaceflight,including a Chinese ASAT test,the launches of the US Phoenix and Dawn missions to study Mars and Asteroid belt respectively,Japan's Kaguya Lunar orbiter,and the first Chinese Lunar probe,Chang'e 1.
The Thor-Burner was an American expendable launch system,a member of the Thor rocket family. It consisted of a Thor missile,with one or two Burner upper stages. It was used between 1965 and 1976 to orbit a number of satellites,most commonly Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) weather satellites. Twenty-four were launched,of which two failed. It weighed 51,810 kg and was 24 metres tall.
This article lists all active and upcoming orbital launch systems. For retired launch vehicles,see Comparison of retired orbital launch systems.
Scout X-2 was an American expendable launch system and sounding rocket which was flown twice in 1962. It was a four-stage rocket,based on the earlier Scout X-1,uprated first and third stages. It was a member of the Scout family of rockets.
The NOTS-EV-1 Pilot,better known as NOTSNIK was an expendable launch system and anti-satellite weapon developed by the United States Navy's United States Naval Ordnance Test Station (NOTS). NOTSNIK began as an in-house project using available NOTS funds. The Advanced Research Projects Agency later supplied some funds for the program. The program involved creating transistorized sensors to detect nuclear explosions from the Operation Argus tests. Ten were launched during July and August 1958,all of which failed. It was the first air-launched rocket to be used for an orbital launch attempt;however,none was recorded as having reached orbit. Following the third orbital launch attempt a NOTS engineer at the tracking station in Christchurch,New Zealand reported receiving a weak signal from the spacecraft;This was never confirmed,and the launches were not catalogued as having reached orbit. The Pilot rocket was part of Project Pilot.
The Proton-K,also designated Proton 8K82K after its GRAU index or SL-12 after its model number,8K82K,was a Russian,previously Soviet,carrier rocket derived from the earlier Proton. It was built by Khrunichev,and launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The Vostok-K,GRAU index 8K72K was an expendable carrier rocket used by the Soviet Union for thirteen launches between 1960 and 1964,six of which were crewed. It was derived from the earlier Vostok-L;however,it featured uprated engines to improve performance,and enlarge its payload capacity. It was a member of the Vostok family of rockets.
The Vostok-2M,GRAU index 8A92M was an expendable carrier rocket used by the Soviet Union between 1964 and 1991. Ninety-three were launched,of which one failed. Another was destroyed before launch. It was originally built as a specialised version of the earlier Vostok-2,for injecting lighter payloads into higher Sun-synchronous orbits. It was a member of the R-7 family of rockets,and the last Vostok.
The NOTS-EV-2 Caleb,also known as NOTS-500,Hi-Hoe and SIP was an expendable launch system,which was later used as a sounding rocket and prototype anti-satellite weapon. It was developed by the United States Navy's Naval Ordnance Test Station (NOTS) as a follow-up to the NOTS-EV-1 Pilot,which had been abandoned following ten launches officially classified as failed missions. Two were launched in July and October 1960,before the cancellation of the project. Following cancellation,two leftover Calebs were used in the Satellite Interceptor Program (SIP),while three more were used as sounding rockets,under the designation Hi-Hoe. These derivatives flew until July 1962,when the Hi-Hoe made its final flight.
Scout X,also known as Cub Scout,was an American rocket which served as a prototype of the Scout,which was launched on a single test flight in 1960. It was used to test the configuration that later Scout rockets would use as well as two of the solid rocket motors that would be used on them.
Scout X-1 was an American expendable launch system and sounding rocket which was flown seven times between August 1960 and October 1961. Four orbital and three suborbital launches were made,with four of the launches resulting in failures.
The RM-90 Blue Scout II was an American sounding rocket and expendable launch system which was flown three times during 1961. It was used for two HETS test flights,and the launch of the Mercury-Scout 1 satellite for NASA. It was a member of the Scout family of rockets.
The RM-89 Blue Scout I was an American sounding rocket which was flown four times between January 1961 and April 1962. It was used for two HETS test flights,and a flight to investigate atmospheric re-entry. It was a member of the Scout family of rockets.
Scout X-1A was an American sounding rocket which was flown in 1962. It was a five-stage derivative of the earlier Scout X-1,with an uprated first stage,and a NOTS-17 upper stage.
The Scout X-2B was an American expendable launch system which was flown during 1963. It was a four-stage rocket,based on the earlier Scout X-2,but with an Altair 2A fourth stage in place of the Altair 1A used on the X-2. It was a member of the Scout family of rockets.
This article compares different orbital launcher families. The article is organized into two tables:the first contains a list of currently active and under-development launcher families,while the second contains a list of retired launcher families.
Explorer S-56 was a NASA satellite launched on 4 December 1960,at 21:14 GMT as part of the Explorer program. The satellite was composed of a 3.66 m (12.0 ft) diameter inflatable sphere,and was intended to study the density of the upper atmosphere. The Scout X-1 rocket used to launch Explorer S-56 failed in flight,and the satellite never reached orbit.
