The Europa rocket was an early expendable launch system of the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO),which was the precursor to the European Space Agency (ESA). It was developed with the aim to delivering space access technology,and more specifically to facilitate the deployment of European-wide telecommunication and meteorological satellites into orbit.
The PGM-11 Redstone was the first large American ballistic missile. A short-range ballistic missile (SRBM),it was in active service with the United States Army in West Germany from June 1958 to June 1964 as part of NATO's Cold War defense of Western Europe. It was the first US missile to carry a live nuclear warhead,in the 1958 Pacific Ocean weapons test,Hardtack Teak.
Black Arrow,officially capitalised BLACK ARROW,was a British satellite expendable launch system.
The Jaguar was a three-stage British sounding rocket built in several versions.
Topaze is the designation of a French sounding rocket. The Topaze was developed by several French companies,notably Nord Aviation and Sud Aviation,and built by SEREB and was the first guidable French sounding rocket.
WRESAT,or Weapons Research Establishment Satellite,was Australia's first satellite. It was named after its designer,the Weapons Research Establishment. WRESAT was launched on 29 November 1967 using a modified American Redstone rocket with two upper stages,known as a Sparta,from the Woomera Test Range in South Australia. The Sparta was donated by the United States.
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 Australian Space Research Institute (ASRI) was formed 1991 with the merger of the AUSROC Launch Vehicle Development Group at Monash University,Melbourne and the Australian Space Engineering Research Association (ASERA).
The year 1967 in spaceflight saw the most orbital launches of the 20th century and more than any other year until 2021,including that of the first Australian satellite,WRESAT,which was launched from the Woomera Test Range atop an American Sparta rocket. The United States National Space Science Data Center catalogued 172 spacecraft placed into orbit by launches which occurred in 1967.
The Conestoga was a launch vehicle design funded by Space Services Inc. of America (SSIA) of Houston,Texas. Conestoga originally consisted of surplus LGM-30 Minuteman stages with additional strap-on boosters,as required for larger payloads. It was the world's first privately funded commercial rocket,but was launched only three times between 1981 and 1995,before the program was shut down.
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 Long March 4A,also known as the Changzheng 4A,CZ-4A and LM-4A,sometimes misidentified as the Long March 4 due to the lack of any such designated rocket,was a Chinese orbital carrier rocket. It was launched from Launch Area 7 at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. It was a three-stage rocket,used for two launches in 1988 and 1990. On its maiden flight,on 6 September 1988,it placed the FY-1A weather satellite into orbit. On its second,and final,flight it launched another weather satellite,FY-1B.
Orba,also known as X-2,was intended to be the first satellite launched by a British rocket. It was launched at 00:34 GMT on 2 September 1970,atop a Black Arrow rocket from Launch Area 5B at Woomera,but failed to reach orbit after the second stage of the carrier rocket shut down 13 seconds early. Orba was built from spare parts due to funding restrictions,and was to have been used to measure upper atmosphere density by monitoring the decay of its orbit.
The Redstone family of rockets consisted of a number of American ballistic missiles,sounding rockets and expendable launch vehicles operational during the 1950s and 1960s. The first member of the Redstone family was the PGM-11 Redstone missile,from which all subsequent variations of the Redstone were derived. The Juno 1 version of the Redstone launched Explorer 1,the first U.S. orbital satellite in 1958 and the Mercury-Redstone variation carried the first two U.S. astronauts into space in 1961. The rocket was named for the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville,Alabama where it was developed.
The Titan 23G,Titan II(23)G,Titan 2(23)G or Titan II SLV was an American expendable launch system derived from the LGM-25C Titan II intercontinental ballistic missile. Retired Titan II missiles were converted by Martin Marietta,into which the Glenn L. Martin Company,which built the original Titan II,had merged. It was used to carry payloads for the United States Air Force (USAF),NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Thirteen were launched from Space Launch Complex 4W (SLC-4W) at the Vandenberg Air Force Base between 1988 and 2003.
TDRS-B was an American communications satellite,of first generation,which was to have formed part of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System. It was destroyed in 1986 when the Space ShuttleChallenger disintegrated 73 seconds after launch.
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.
Kosmos 295,known before launch as DS-P1-Yu No.29,was a Soviet satellite which was launched in 1969 as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik programme. It was a 325-kilogram (717 lb) spacecraft,which was built by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau,and was used as a radar calibration target for anti-ballistic missile tests.
The Athena II is an American small expendable launch system which was used for three launches between 1998 and 1999,and which was scheduled to return to service in 2012 but has not been flown again as of 2024. It is a member of the Athena family of rockets,along with the smaller Athena I.
Kosmos 147 or Zenit-2 No.44 was a Soviet,first generation,low resolution,optical film-return reconnaissance satellite launched in 1967. A Zenit-2 spacecraft,Kosmos 147 was the forty-seventh of eighty-one such satellites to be launched. and had a mass of 4,000 kilograms (8,800 lb).
