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A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft, by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word spaceport, and even more so cosmodrome, has traditionally been used for sites capable of launching spacecraft into orbit around Earth or on interplanetary trajectories. [1] However, rocket launch sites for purely sub-orbital flights are sometimes called spaceports, as in recent years new and proposed sites for suborbital human flights have been frequently referred to or named "spaceports". Space stations and proposed future bases on the Moon are sometimes called spaceports, in particular if intended as a base for further journeys. [2]
The term rocket launch site is used for any facility from which rockets are launched. It may contain one or more launch pads or suitable sites to mount a transportable launch pad. It is typically surrounded by a large safety area, often called a rocket range or missile range. The range includes the area over which launched rockets are expected to fly, and within which some components of the rockets may land. Tracking stations are sometimes located in the range to assess the progress of the launches. [3]
Major spaceports often include more than one launch complex, which can be rocket launch sites adapted for different types of launch vehicles. (These sites can be well-separated for safety reasons.) For launch vehicles with liquid propellant, suitable storage facilities and, in some cases, production facilities are necessary. On-site processing facilities for solid propellants are also common.
A spaceport may also include runways for takeoff and landing of aircraft to support spaceport operations, or to enable support of HTHL or horizontal takeoff and vertical landing (HTVL) winged launch vehicles.
The first rockets to reach space were V-2 rockets launched from Peenemünde, Germany in 1944 during World War II. [4] After the war, 70 complete V-2 rockets were brought to White Sands for test launches, with 47 of them reaching altitudes between 100 km and 213 km. [5]
The world's first spaceport for orbital and human launches, the Baikonur Cosmodrome in southern Kazakhstan, started as a Soviet military rocket range in 1955. It achieved the first orbital flight (Sputnik 1) in October 1957. The exact location of the cosmodrome was initially held secret. Guesses to its location were misdirected by a name in common with a mining town 320 km away. The position became known in 1957 outside the Soviet Union only after U-2 planes had identified the site by following railway lines in the Kazakh SSR, although Soviet authorities did not confirm the location for decades. [6]
The Baikonur Cosmodrome achieved the first launch of a human into space (Yuri Gagarin) in 1961. The launch complex used, Site 1, has reached a special symbolic significance and is commonly called Gagarin's Start. Baikonur was the primary Soviet cosmodrome, and is still frequently used by Russia under a lease arrangement with Kazakhstan.
In response to the early Soviet successes, the United States built up a major spaceport complex at Cape Canaveral in Florida. A large number of uncrewed flights, as well as the early human flights, were carried out at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. For the Apollo programme, an adjacent spaceport, Kennedy Space Center, was constructed, and achieved the first crewed mission to the lunar surface (Apollo 11) in July 1969. It was the base for all Space Shuttle launches and most of their runway landings. For details on the launch complexes of the two spaceports, see List of Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island launch sites.
The Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, is the major European spaceport, with satellite launches that benefit from the location 5 degrees north of the equator.
In October 2003 the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center achieved the first Chinese human spaceflight.
Breaking with tradition, in June 2004 on a runway at Mojave Air and Space Port, California, a human was for the first time launched to space in a privately funded, suborbital spaceflight, that was intended to pave the way for future commercial spaceflights. The spacecraft, SpaceShipOne, was launched by a carrier airplane taking off horizontally.
At Cape Canaveral, SpaceX in 2015 made the first successful landing and recovery of a first stage used in a vertical satellite launch. [7]
Rockets can most easily reach satellite orbits if launched near the equator in an easterly direction, as this maximizes use of the Earth's rotational speed (465 m/s at the equator). Such launches also provide a desirable orientation for arriving at a geostationary orbit. For polar orbits and Molniya orbits this does not apply.
In principle, advantages of high altitude launch are reduced vertical distance to travel and a thinner atmosphere for the rocket to penetrate. However, altitude of the launch site is not a driving factor in spaceport placement because most of the delta-v for a launch is spent on achieving the required horizontal orbital speed. The small gain from a few kilometers of extra altitude does not usually off-set the logistical costs of ground transport in mountainous terrain.
Many spaceports have been placed at existing military installations, such as intercontinental ballistic missile ranges, which are not always physically ideal sites for launch.
A rocket launch site is built as far as possible away from major population centers in order to mitigate risk to bystanders should a rocket experience a catastrophic failure. In many cases a launch site is built close to major bodies of water to ensure that no components are shed over populated areas. Typically a spaceport site is large enough that, should a vehicle explode, it will not endanger human lives or adjacent launch pads. [8]
Planned sites of spaceports for sub-orbital tourist spaceflight often make use of existing ground infrastructure, including runways. The nature of the local view from 100 km (62 mi) altitude is also a factor to consider.
The space tourism industry (see List of private spaceflight companies) is being targeted by spaceports in numerous locations worldwide. e.g. Spaceport America, New Mexico.
The establishment of spaceports for tourist trips raises legal issues, which are only beginning to be addressed. [9] [10]
The following is a table of spaceports and launch complexes for vertical launchers with documented achieved launches of humans to space (more than 100 km (62 mi) altitude). The sorting order is spaceport by spaceport according to the time of the first human launch.
† Three of the Soyuz missions were uncrewed and are not counted (Soyuz 2, Soyuz 20, Soyuz 34).
‡ STS-51-L ( Challenger ) failed to reach orbit and is not counted. STS-107 ( Columbia ) reached orbit and is therefore included in the count (disaster struck on re-entry).
Crewed Missions failed to reachKármán line:
Soyuz T-10a (1983)
STS-51-L (1986)
Soyuz MS-10 (2018)
The following is a table of spaceports with a documented achieved launch to orbit. The table is sorted according to the time of the first launch that achieved satellite orbit insertion. The first column gives the geographical location. Operations from a different country are indicated in the fourth column. A launch is counted as one also in cases where the payload consists of multiple satellites.
Spaceport | Location | Years (orbital) | Launches to orbit or inter- planetary | Launch vehicles (operators) | Sources |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Baikonur Cosmodrome, Baikonur/Tyuratam, Kazakhstan [11] | Kazakhstan | 1957– | >1,000 | R-7/Soyuz, Kosmos, Proton, Tsyklon, Zenit, Energia, Dnepr, N1, Rokot, Strela | [ citation needed ] |
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, United States [12] | United States | 1958– | >400 | Delta, Scout, Atlas, Titan, Saturn, Athena, Falcon 9, Minotaur IV, Vanguard, Juno, Thor | [ citation needed ] |
Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, United States [13] | United States | 1959– | >700 | Delta, Scout, Atlas, Titan, Taurus, Athena, Minotaur, Falcon 9, Thor, Firefly Alpha | [14] |
Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, United States [15] (see also MARS below) | United States | 1961–1985 | 19 | Scout | 6 [15] +13 [15] |
Kapustin Yar Cosmodrome, Astrakhan Oblast, Russia [16] | Russia | 1962–2008 | 85 | Kosmos | [16] [ citation needed ] |
Hammaguir French Special Weapons Test Centre, Algeria [17] | Algeria | 1965–1967 | 4 | Diamant A (France) | Diamant |
Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia [18] | Russia | 1966– | >1,500 | R-7/Soyuz, Kosmos, Tsyklon-3, Rokot, Angara, Start | [18] |
San Marco platform, Broglio Space Centre, Malindi, Kenya [15] | Kenya | 1967–1988 | 9 | Scout (ASI and Sapienza, Italy) | Broglio |
Kennedy Space Center, Florida, United States [12] | United States | 1967– | 187 | 17 Saturn, 135 Space Shuttle, 63 Falcon 9, 9 Falcon Heavy, 1 SLS | Saturn, STS, F9 |
Woomera Prohibited Area, South Australia [15] | Australia | 1967, 1971 | 2 | Redstone (WRESAT), Black Arrow (UK Prospero X-3), Europa | WRESAT, X-3 |
Uchinoura Space Center (Kagoshima), Japan [15] | Japan | 1970– | 31 | 27 Mu, 3 Epsilon, 1 SS-520-5 | [15] M, ε, S |
Guyane française Space Centre, Kourou, French Guiana, France [19] | France | 1970– | 318 | 7 Diamant, 227 Ariane, 16 Soyuz-2, 11 Vega | see 4 rockets |
Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China [15] | China | 1970– | 121 | 2 LM1, 3 LM2A, 20 LM2C, 36 LM2D, 13 LM2F, 3 LM4B, 5 LM4C, 3 LM11 | See 8 rockets |
Tanegashima Space Center, Japan [15] | Japan | 1975– | 65 | 6 N-I, 8 N-II, 9 H-I, 6 H-II, 36 H-IIA | see 5 rockets |
Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR), Andhra Pradesh, India [15] | India | 1979– | 93 | 4 SLV, 4 ASLV, 60 PSLV, 16GSLV, 7 LVM3, 2 SSLV | List SDSC |
Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China [20] | China | 1984– | 183 | Long March: 6 LM2C, 5 LM2E, 11 LM3, 25 LM3A, 42 LM3B, 15 LM3C | See 6 rockets |
Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, China [21] | China | 1988– | 62 | Long March: 16 LM2C, 2 LM2D, 2 LM4A, 25 LM4B, 15 LM4C, 2 LM6 | See 6 rockets |
Palmachim Air Force Base, Israel [15] | Israel | 1988– | 8 | Shavit | Shavit |
Various airport runways (B-52, Stargazer) | Various | 1990– | 39 | Pegasus (Orbital Sciences Corporation) | Pegasus |
Svobodny Cosmodrome, Amur Oblast, Russia [22] | Russia | 1997–2006 | 5 | Start-1 | [22] |
Delta-class submarine, Barents Sea | Barents Sea | 1998, 2006 | 2 | Shtil' (Russia), Volna-O | Shtil' |
Odyssey mobile platform, Pacific Ocean | Pacific Ocean | 1999–2014 | 32 | Zenit-3SL (Sea Launch) | Sea Launch |
Pacific Spaceport Complex (Kodiak), Alaska, United States [23] [24] | United States | 2001– | 3 | 1 Athena, 2 Minotaur IV | Kodiak |
Yasny Cosmodrome (Dombarovsky), Orenburg Oblast, Russia [25] | Russia | 2006– | 10 | Dnepr | Dnepr |
Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), Virginia, United States [26] | United States | 2006– | 12 | 5 Minotaur I, 6 Antares, 1 Minotaur V | MARS |
Omelek, Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands | Marshall Islands | 2008–2009 | 5 | 5 Falcon 1 (US) | Falcon 1 |
Semnan Space Center, Semnan, Iran [15] [27] | Iran | 2009– | 5 | Safir, Simorgh, Zuljanah | Safir |
Sohae Satellite Launching Station, North Korea | North Korea | 2012– | 2 | Unha-3 | K3-U2 [28] |
Naro Space Center, South Jeolla, South Korea [29] | South Korea | 2013– | 2 | Naro-1, Nuri | Naro-1,Nuri |
Vostochny Cosmodrome, Amur Oblast, Russia | Russia | 2016– | 8 | 8 Soyuz-2 | Vostochny |
Wenchang Satellite Launch Center, China | China | 2016– | 23 | Long March: 9 LM5, 12 LM7, 2 LM8 | See 3 rockets |
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, New Zealand | New Zealand | 2018– | 21 | 21 Electron | Electron (rocket) |
various launching platforms from Dongfang Spaceport , China | Yellow sea, East China sea | 2019– | 6 | 4 Long March 11, 1 SD3, 1 CERES-1 | See 3 rockets |
Shahroud Space Center, Semnan Province, Iran | Iran | 2020– | 4 | 3 Qased, 2 Qaem 100 | [30] [31] |
The following table shows spaceports with documented achieved launches of humans to at least 100 km altitude, starting from a horizontal runway. All the flights were sub-orbital.
Spaceport | Carrier aircraft | Spacecraft | Flights above 100 km | Years |
---|---|---|---|---|
Edwards AFB, California, United States | B-52 | X-15 | 2 flights (# 90-91) | 1963 |
Mojave Air and Space Port, California, United States | White Knight | SpaceShipOne | 3 flights (# 15P-17P) | 2004 |
Spaceports have been proposed for locations on the Moon, Mars, orbiting the Earth, at Sun-Earth and Earth-Moon Lagrange points, and at other locations in the Solar System. Human-tended outposts on the Moon or Mars, for example, will be spaceports by definition. [32] The 2012 Space Studies Program of the International Space University studied the economic benefit of a network of spaceports throughout the solar system beginning from Earth and expanding outwardly in phases, within its team project Operations And Service Infrastructure for Space (OASIS). [33] Its analysis claimed that the first phase, placing the "Node 1" spaceport with space tug services in low Earth orbit (LEO), would be commercially profitable and reduce transportation costs to geosynchronous orbit by as much as 44% (depending on the launch vehicle). The second phase would add a Node 2 spaceport on the lunar surface to provide services including lunar ice mining and delivery of rocket propellants back to Node 1. This would enable lunar surface activities and further reduce transportation costs within and out from cislunar space. The third phase would add a Node 3 spaceport on the Martian moon Phobos to enable refueling and resupply prior to Mars surface landings, missions beyond Mars, and return trips to Earth. In addition to propellant mining and refueling, the network of spaceports could provide services such as power storage and distribution, in-space assembly and repair of spacecraft, communications relay, shelter, construction and leasing of infrastructure, maintaining spacecraft positioned for future use, and logistics. [34]
The Soyuz programme is a human spaceflight programme initiated by the Soviet Union in the early 1960s. The Soyuz spacecraft was originally part of a Moon landing project intended to put a Soviet cosmonaut on the Moon. It was the third Soviet human spaceflight programme after the Vostok (1961–1963) and Voskhod (1964–1965) programmes.
Spaceflight is an application of astronautics to fly objects, usually spacecraft, into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such as satellites in orbit around Earth, but also includes space probes for flights beyond Earth orbit. Such spaceflight operate either by telerobotic or autonomous control. The more complex human spaceflight has been pursued soon after the first orbital satellites and has reached the Moon and permanent human presence in space around Earth, particularly with the use of space stations. Human spaceflight programs include the Soyuz, Shenzhou, the past Apollo Moon landing and the Space Shuttle programs. Other current spaceflight are conducted to the International Space Station and to China's Tiangong Space Station.
Soyuz is a family of expendable Russian and Soviet carrier rockets developed by OKB-1 and manufactured by Progress Rocket Space Centre in Samara, Russia. With over 2,000 flights since its debut in 1966, the Soyuz is the rocket with the most launches in the history of spaceflight.
The Baikonur Cosmodrome is a spaceport operated by Russia within Kazakhstan. Located in the Kazakh city of Baikonur, it is the largest operational space launch facility in terms of area. All Russian crewed spaceflights are launched from Baikonur.
Plesetsk Cosmodrome is a Russian spaceport located in Mirny, Arkhangelsk Oblast, about 800 km north of Moscow and approximately 200 km south of Arkhangelsk. As of 2024, it is Europe's only operational orbital spaceport and the northernmost spaceport in the world. Originally developed as an ICBM site for the R-7 missile, it also served for numerous satellite launches using the R-7 and other rockets. Its high latitude makes it useful only for certain types of launches, especially the Molniya orbits, so for much of the site's history it functioned as a secondary location, with most orbital launches taking place from Baikonur, in the Kazakh SSR. With the end of the Soviet Union, Baikonur became a foreign territory, and Kazakhstan charged $115 million usage fees annually. Consequently, Plesetsk has seen considerably more activity since the 2000s.
The Guiana Space Centre, also called Europe's Spaceport, is a European spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, a region of France in South America. Kourou is located approximately 310 mi (500 km) north of the equator at a latitude of 5°. In operation since 1968, it is a suitable location for a spaceport because of its equatorial location and open sea to the east.
Zond 8, also known as L-1 No.14, was the last in the series of circumlunar spacecraft, a member of the Soviet Zond program, designed to rehearse a piloted circumlunar flight, an uncrewed version of Soyuz 7K-L1 crewed circumlunar flight spacecraft. The project was initiated in 1965 to compete with the Americans in the race to the Moon but lost its importance once three astronauts orbited the Moon on the Apollo 8 mission in December 1968.
Human spaceflight programs have been conducted, started, or planned by multiple countries and companies. Until the 21st century, human spaceflight programs were sponsored exclusively by governments, through either the military or civilian space agencies. With the launch of the privately funded SpaceShipOne in 2004, a new category of human spaceflight programs – commercial human spaceflight – arrived. By the end of 2022, three countries and one private company (SpaceX) had successfully launched humans to Earth orbit, and two private companies had launched humans on a suborbital trajectory.
The Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities, commonly known simply as Roscosmos, is a state corporation of the Russian Federation responsible for space flights, cosmonautics programs, and aerospace research.
The Soviet space program was the national space program of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), active from 1955 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Uncrewed spaceflights to the International Space Station (ISS) are made primarily to deliver cargo, however several Russian modules have also docked to the outpost following uncrewed launches. Resupply missions typically use the Russian Progress spacecraft, European Automated Transfer Vehicles, Japanese Kounotori vehicles, and the American Dragon and Cygnus spacecraft. The primary docking system for Progress spacecraft is the automated Kurs system, with the manual TORU system as a backup. ATVs also use Kurs, however they are not equipped with TORU. The other spacecraft — the Japanese HTV, the SpaceX Dragon and the Northrop Grumman Cygnus — rendezvous with the station before being grappled using Canadarm2 and berthed at the nadir port of the Harmony or Unity module for one to two months. Progress, Cygnus and ATV can remain docked for up to six months. Under CRS phase 2, Cargo Dragon docks autonomously at IDA-2 or 3 as the case may be. As of December 2022, Progress spacecraft have flown most of the uncrewed missions to the ISS.
Soyuz 7K-L1 No.4L, sometimes identified by NASA as Zond 1967A, was a Soviet spacecraft which was launched in 1967 as part of the Zond programme. It was a 5,390-kilogram (11,880 lb) Soyuz 7K-L1 spacecraft, the first of nine to be launched. Although it was intended to perform a circumlunar flyby of the Moon before returning to the Earth for landing, it failed to achieve Earth orbit.
Gagarin's Start, also known as Baikonur Site 1 or Site 1/5 was a launch site at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan that was used for the Soviet space program and Roscosmos.
This comparison of orbital launch systems lists the attributes of all individual rocket configurations designed to reach orbit. A first list contains rockets that are operational or in development as of 2023; a second list includes all upcoming rockets and a third list includes all retired rockets. For the simple list of all conventional launcher families, see: Comparison of orbital launchers families. For the list of predominantly solid-fueled orbital launch systems, see: Comparison of solid-fueled orbital launch systems.
The Vostochny Cosmodrome is a Russian spaceport above the 51st parallel north in the Amur Oblast, in the Russian Far East. It is intended to reduce Russia's dependency on the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The first launch took place on 28 April 2016 at 02:01 UTC. As of 1 July 2022, eleven launch attempts have been made with ten successes.
Meteor-M No.2-1, was a Russian satellite, part of Meteor-M series of polar-orbit weather satellite. It was launched using Soyuz-2.1b rocket with a Fregat upper stage on 28 November 2017; the satellite failed to separate from the Fregat and communication was later lost.
Zond program was a Soviet robotic spacecraft program launched between 1964 and 1970, using two spacecraft series, one for interplanetary exploration, and the other for lunar exploration.
Soyuz 7K-L1E was a Soviet uncrewed modified Soyuz 7K-L1 spacecraft. Also called a dummy Soyuz 7K-LOK. Two were built, one Soyuz 7K-L1E was successfully launched into Low Earth Orbit on Proton rocket and is known as Kosmos 382. The other Soyuz 7K-L1E was placed on a N1 rocket, which failed at launch. The Soyuz spacecraft was first used in 1967 as the main crewed spacecraft and is still in use. Many Soyuz variations have been built and the Soyuz 7K-L1E was an uncrewed variation.
Soyuz Kontakt(Soyuz Contact) was the docking hardware of the Soviet crewed lunar spacecraft program. The Soviet lunar human program was canceled in 1974 after many failures. Four failures of the N-1 Rocket super heavy-lift launch vehicle and the success of the U.S. Apollo program ended the Soviet crewed moon program.